The Alabama legislature has sent a sweeping diversity, equity, and inclusion ban to Gov. Kay Ivey’s (R-AL) desk that would bar the race and gender ideology in universities, public schools, and other state institutions.
Lawmakers in the Yellowhammer State sent Senate Bill 129 to Ivey on Tuesday, and it awaits a signature. The bill would prohibit state promotion of DEI and other “divisive concepts,” dealing a blow to the $16 million bureaucracy built around the ideology at state universities.
The legislation said neither state agencies nor schools can support DEI-related programming or mandatory DEI pledges for faculty, staff, and students. At least eight public universities in Alabama have dedicated DEI programs, according to AL.com.
Such “divisive concepts” include the idea that “any race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior,” that any individual should be discriminated against because of those characteristics, that the “moral character” of a person can be questioned based on those characteristics, that someone in the present could be “inherently responsible” for acts committed by some in the past based on those characteristics, that meritocracy is “racist and sexist,” and that “any individual should accept, acknowledge, affirm, or assent to a sense of guilt, complicity, or a need to apologize” based on immutable characteristics.
The bill would also bar institutions of higher education in the state from allowing people to use restrooms that do not align with their biological sex.
Upon state Senate passage of the bill in February, Republican state Sen. Will Barfoot, the author of the measure, slammed schools for acting like “ideological activists.”
“Higher education must return to its essential foundations of academic integrity and the pursuit of knowledge instead of being corrupted by destructive ideologies,” Barfoot said. “This legislation will build bridges to celebrate what people have in common, not erect walls that silo people into the idea that their race, religion, and sexual orientation solely define who they are and how society should view them.”
Some Alabama schools appear to be anticipating the enactment of the law. The University of Alabama System presidents, who represent campuses in Birmingham, Huntsville, and Tuscaloosa, sent a Tuesday night letter to faculty and students signaling the changes they may have to make by the Oct. 1 effective date of the law, should Ivey sign it.
“It is important to note that SB 129 defines divisive concepts and DEI programs in specific terms, and it offers several exceptions for accreditation requirements, academic freedom, medical and mental health care, research, recruiting and outreach, and a host of other areas,” the University of Alabama System letter said.
“We remain committed to recruiting and retaining outstanding students, faculty and staff from all backgrounds, providing open and equal access to resources and opportunities, and equipping all campus community members for success at our universities and beyond,” the letter said.
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If signed into law, Alabama will join several other states in banning DEI at their universities, including Texas and Florida, which have both seen their institutional DEI infrastructure gutted. However, while Florida imposed layoffs for state universities’ DEI staff, Texas has had problems with former dedicated DEI staff being placed in other school departments and fulfilling the same DEI function, as the Washington Examiner reported.
There have been 80 bills across 28 states and U.S. Congress introduced to curtail DEI ideology since 2023, nine of which have received final legislative approval and eight of which have become law, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.