Rep. Dan Crenshaw wants to end the practice of forcing students to sign “diversity, equity and inclusion” statements at higher education institutions.
Mr. Crenshaw, Texas Republican, recently proposed legislation that would cut funding from these colleges and universities that mandate their students write or endorse DEI statements against their will.
The legislation amends the 1965 Higher Education Act and includes measures that prevent these types of statements as a condition for employment or enrollment while including a rule of construction that clarifies this does not infringe on classroom instruction or compliance with anti-discrimination law.
The bill builds off legislation passed in Texas recently that reins in DEI policies at public universities across the state.
“We can see the utter moral bankruptcy in higher education with the spread of antisemitism on college campuses.” Mr. Crenshaw said in a statement. “Make no mistake — the DEI bureaucracy is directly responsible for a toxic campus culture that separates everyone into oppressor vs oppressed. That’s why I am dropping legislation to protect free thought and prevent federal funding for universities that force students to write diversity, equity, and inclusion statements.”
According to the bill, colleges and universities would be prevented from compelling, inducing or soliciting students, employees or contractors of the institution to endorse an ideology that promotes the differential treatment of an individual or a group based on race or ethnicity.
The bill also bans mandated statements indicating the person’s race, color, ethnicity or national origin, but a minimal exception is made to the extent necessary to record demographic information.
House lawmakers last month scrutinized DEI initiatives at colleges and universities during a House Education and Workforce subcommittee hearing on higher education. The hearing titled “Confronting the Scourge of Antisemitism on Campus” scrutinized how DEI initiatives allowed for antisemitism to expand on American college campuses.
A 2021 Heritage Foundation study of 741 DEI university staffers found that 96% of their tweets about Israel were “critical of the Jewish state.”
“DEI programs are ideologically antisemitic because they ascribe collective guilt to the entire state of Israel for its mere existence,” Rep. Owen Burgess, Utah Republican said. “The core principles of the Marxist ideologue are not diversity, equity, or inclusion. They are instead discrimination, intolerance and bigotry towards individuals thought to belong to the wrong group.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.