Louisiana Senate kills bill to ban DEI course mandates

A Louisiana measure that would have banned requirements for DEI-related courses has been abandoned by the state senate.

As Campus Reform reported last month, House Bill 685 would have originally banned all DEI activities at public universities but was modified in May to ban certain DEI course requirements. 

[RELATED: Another UNC system administrator gets caught on camera defending efforts to protect DEI]

The bill defined “DEI-related instructional content” as content that relates to “critical race theory, white fragility, white guilt, systemic racism, institutional racism, anti-racism, systemic bias, implicit bias, intersectionality, gender identity, allyship, race-based reparations, or race-based privilege.”

According to Senate President Cameron Henry on June 9, the Senate “couldn’t figure out which committee to refer it to,” the Louisiana Illuminator reports. As a result, the Senate did not assign the bill to a committee, making it effectively dead. 

The bill passed the Louisiana House of Representatives in May.

A recent report from the Goldwater Institute found that the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of Louisiana at Monroe, and McNeese State University all require some sort of DEI course for certain education majors.

Rep. Emily Chenevert, who sponsored the bill, said she put forward the bill to defend women from harmful DEI initiatives. 

“My biggest concern is that it has hurt more female athletes across this country than it has helped,” Chenevert said when the House passed the bill. “Biological men have taken the places of biological women.”

Chenevert indicated she may introduce the bill again in the future, according to the Illuminator.

[RELATED: Kent State to end DEI offices with new state law taking effect]

The bill’s opponents argue that the bill would harm academic freedom and degrade the content of certain majors. The American Association of University Presidents’ Louisiana chapter said that the concepts named in the bill are “critical” for a “wide range of fields including sociology, criminology, economics, business, history, political science, and other social sciences.”

“If enacted, HB 685 would diminish the value of degrees granted by our colleges and universities. Credentials such as degrees, majors, minors and certificates represent that the student has mastered the content understood to be critical for understanding that academic area,” the organization wrote in response to the bill.

“[T]he market will not know if the student has been presented and understands this material,” it continued.

Various states have successfully passed anti-DEI legislation in recent months, including Ohio and Kentucky. 

Campus Reform contacted Rep. Emily Chenevert for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.