The Chronicle is tracking legislation that would prohibit colleges from having diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or staff; ban mandatory diversity training; prohibit institutions from using diversity statements in hiring and promotion; or prohibit colleges from using race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in admissions or employment. All four proscriptions were identified in model state legislation proposed this year by the Goldwater and Manhattan Institutes.
Updated May 25, 2023.
We are tracking
35 bills in
20 states. So far,
4
have final
legislative approval.
3
have been signed
into law by a governor.
12
have been tabled,
failed to pass, or vetoed.
What Would the Legislation Restrict?
We Want to Hear From You
Have the efforts to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts had an impact on your campus? We want to hear from you. Fill out this Google Form to tell us what you’ve experienced.
Have we missed any bills in your state? Please email us at adrienne.lu@chronicle.com
Methodology
The Chronicle looked for bills introduced in the current legislative sessions on state legislative websites. We searched for bills that would affect diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts identified in the model state legislation proposed by the Goldwater and Manhattan Institutes this year. We supplemented those efforts by looking for articles about relevant legislation in local media outlets.
In some states, changes in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at public colleges have come from outside the legislature. For example, in a measure that appears to target diversity statements, the University of North Carolina’s Board of Governors voted in February to prohibit colleges from asking applicants or employees to state or agree with certain viewpoints in hiring or admissions, while the chancellors of the Texas A&M and Texas State systems eliminated requirements for diversity statements in hiring. We did not include measures like those, but focused on state legislation only.
Data on student enrollment represents only full-time students for the fall of 2021, and it comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (Ipeds). Employee numbers also come from Ipeds, and these figures include only full-time employees. Nonwhite students and faculty percentages are calculated by taking the total population minus the white population. People who identified as two or more races, nonresidents, or unknown were removed from these calculations as well. Only data from Title IV, degree-granting institutions within the United States is included.
