As Kentucky lawmakers push anti-DEI bills, Black scholars define diversity

FRANKFORT — Against the backdrop of the Kentucky General Assembly considering a couple of bills that would limit diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in education, a panelist of Black scholars and academics met to define the state’s past and present with DEI. 

The discussion concluded the Kentucky Legislative Black Caucus’ annual Black History Speakers Series in Frankfort. The panel’s DEI focus comes in response to legislative efforts that many see as hostile to Black people. 

So far, the Senate has passed Senate Bill 6, which aims to limit DEI in public colleges and universities. House Bill 9, which includes barring universities and colleges from expending “any resources” to support DEI programs or DEI officers, has not yet received a committee hearing. Both are backed by Republicans, who control the majority in the General Assembly. 

Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal, who is from Louisville and a member of the caucus, moderated the panel. 

Neal, who argued while voting against Senate Bill 6 in a committee earlier this session that such legislation would not advance Kentucky and would instead move the state backward, said at the start of the discussion that diversity in experiences, age, physical abilities, religion, race and more support stronger education environments, and, in turn, businesses. 

“Many say that these bills and these actions compromise academic freedom in our colleges and universities while representing a historical reaction that has manifested itself periodically,” Neal said. 

How did we get here? 

In recent years, the acronym DEI has become the next political “boogeyman,” replacing CRT, or Critical Race Theory, and BLM, the Black Lives Matter movement, said Ricky Jones, a University of Louisville professor and chair of the Department of Pan-African Studies. The backlash to the acronyms are really about “the maintenance of white supremacy in Kentucky.” 

Jones said white supremacy is “a single group of people who believe because of the color of their skin, because they are white, they ultimately have the right to know, think and decide about everything of importance.” He spoke about the current state of diversity in Kentucky. 

“It’s an environment that is legislatively hostile and it is getting to the point where talented Black students and Black professionals will not come here, and talented Black students and professionals who are here will not stay, including your natives,” Jones said. 

Kentucky is not alone in considering such legislation and hasn’t been the first. Last year, Tennessee passed a law prohibiting “divisive concepts” in higher education. Florida also enacted legislation preventing universities and colleges from spending money on DEI initiatives. 

John Hardin, a 20th century African American historian and professor Emeritus of history at Western Kentucky University, contextualized the current discourse on DEI through Kentucky’s history. When it first gained statehood, many people who weren’t of European descent could not do a lot, he said. Over time, national events, such as the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Movement influenced the state. In 1966, Gov. Ned Breathitt signed the Kentucky Civil Rights Act, making Kentucky the first Southern state to enact such legislation. 

“History is not dead people,” Hardin said. “History is change over time. What happened then has an impact on what’s happening now.”

Aaron Thompson, the first Black president of the Council on Postsecondary Education, said DEI efforts have closed gaps in higher education in Kentucky. CPE oversees Kentucky’s public higher education institutions, including eight universities. Thompson also previously answered questions about DEI in higher education during the committee hearing on Senate Bill 6. 

Thompson said the retention rate in two-year colleges for underrepresented minorities has increased about 13% and up about 8% for underrepresented minorities at four-year colleges. 

“The only population that we have been up over the last six years in, an increase, has been that of underrepresented populations,” he said. 

Kevin Cosby, the president of Simmons College, a historically Black college in Louisville, said studying history has value because “we get inspired by its accomplishments” and it has important lessons for the present. As the president of a historically Black college, Cosby said that “diversity is not on my agenda” as the institution has mostly Black students and diverse faculty. 

“What I want diverse and more equitable is in the allocation of resources,” he said. 

Where are we now? 

Today, “diversity” can be seen as shorthand for “people who do not belong to the historically powerful group,” meaning the term is often coded Black, said Anastasia Curwood, department chair of history at the University of Kentucky. 

“It means difference within a certain body,” she said. “The difference does not have to be scary. … It simply means bringing in folks who have not historically had power, and these are Black people, Brown people, Native, Indigenous, disabled, LGBTQ, the list is long. But one thing everybody shares is a lack of access to full humanity.”

While debating Senate Bill 6 on the floor, bill sponsor Senate Republican Whip Mike Wilson, of Bowling Green, said his intention is to protect “diversity of thought” in higher education. He said he sees a trend of excluding conservatives from employment or promotion as scholars if they do not conform to “liberal ideologies.” 

The sponsor of House Bill 9, Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy, said in a previous statement that her legislation would direct public universities and colleges to give students “excellent academic instruction in an environment that fosters critical thinking through constructive dialogue.” 

While closing the discussion Thursday, Neal said Kentuckians are at a moment of opportunity “if we seize it.” 

“Those who negate what the past is fail to realize is that we cannot be informed to take advantage of the opportunities to be that future, make a better society, a life for us all,” he said.