HOUSTON – A new law dismantling the Texas’ diversity, equity and inclusion offices at publicly-funded universities and colleges will go into effect in 2024.
Senate Bill 17, which takes effect on Jan. 1, will require that all state-funded colleges and universities close their DEI offices. It also bans any mandatory diversity training.
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Here is what you should know before the law goes into effect:
Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law on June 14. The DEI office ban is making public universities limit efforts and initiatives that highlight diversity or end targeted support for underrepresented groups. Many universities spent the summer figuring out how to comply with the new requirements. It’s also altered hiring, public university officials say.
In February, Abbott’s office sent out a letter to public universities and state agencies saying that DEI hiring practices violated federal and state employment laws and barred them from hiring on factors “other than merit.” Some legal experts argued that the governor’s office mischaracterized the legal practices employers use when considering diversity in their hiring.
Houston-area Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who filed the bill, said in a June statement that it would promote a “merit-based approach” and “[w]hat sets SB 17 apart from other proposals is that the legislation delivers strong enforcement with mandates to return Texas colleges and universities to their core mission — educate and innovate.” Creighton argued that Texas’ diversity should still be reflected at its universities.
“However, the elevation of DEI offices, mandatory diversity statements, political litmus tests, and diversity training have the opposite effect and only further divides,” he said in a statement when the bill passed out of the Senate. “DEI programs have become a million-dollar industry at taxpayer-funded institutions–yet they have made no progress advancing or increasing diversity.”
Some colleges have altered their mission statements or created new departments altogether to keep the staff members from their DEI departments.
The legislation comes two years after state lawmakers criticized critical race theory and limited how topics like race and racism can be discussed in K-12 public schools.
Shortly after the new DEI law passed, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the use of race in college admissions, eliminating a longstanding tool universities used to increase diversity and address the historical exclusion of students from certain backgrounds.
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