Oklahoma governor executive order to put higher education diversity programs under review

Gov. Kevin Stitt plans to sign an executive order that will target diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in higher education in Oklahoma.

The order, expected to be signed Wednesday at the state Capitol, will require “state agencies and institutes of higher education to formally review the necessity and efficiency of DEI positions, departments, activities, procedures, and programs.”

A media advisory said Stitt’s action “will put students first while taking steps to remove politics from institutes of higher learning.” No other details of the order were available Tuesday.

Joining Stitt at the signing ceremony will be state Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, and state Rep. Rhonda Baker, R-Yukon.

More: Oklahoma GOP lawmakers continue fight against DEI initiatives in colleges, universities

A spokesperson for the University of Oklahoma declined comment about the governor's plans on Tuesday, while spokespeople for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and Oklahoma State University didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Republican officeholders in Oklahoma have stepped up attacks on DEI programs in education in recent months. In April, the Oklahoma Board of Education, led by state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, voted to require every public school district in the state to report on all DEI efforts in their districts during the 2022-23 academic year. That report was to include all spending, materials, personnel and third-party contractors connected with DEI programs.

Walters, who has called DEI “Marxist at its core,” had earlier demanded that state higher education Chancellor Allison Garrett produce a report detailing “every dollar” spent on teaching DEI on the state’s public college campuses.

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education complied with Walters’ demand. The report said Oklahoma colleges and universities expect to spend about $10.2 million during the 2023-24 academic year on DEI initiatives, with $3.4 million of that amount coming from state appropriations. The $10.2 million accounted for about three-tenths of 1% of all higher-education spending in Oklahoma, the report said.

Members of the Republican-dominated Oklahoma Legislature also have pushed bills attacking DEI spending. In May, Sen. Rob Standridge, of Norman, and Rep. Justin Humphrey, of Lane, authored Senate Concurrent Resolution 12, which would have defunded any state institution of higher education that did not immediately eliminate DEI “from every vestige of their institution.” The resolution didn't clear the Senate.

But at a legislative hearing in October, members of the state Senate Education Committee — led by Standridge – began laying groundwork to again target DEI at state colleges and universities and call for cuts to the state’s higher education system budget during the upcoming session, which begins in February. State regents have requested $1.126 billion in state funding for the next fiscal year.

At that hearing, a collection of speakers called DEI programs a distraction from science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Stitt's executive order to put university DEI programs under scrutiny