Oklahoma Legislature easily passes bill to prohibit DEI in public higher education

Oklahoma legislators have passed a bill to ban Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives at public colleges and universities. 

After the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 39-8 in March, House members gave their approval of Senate Bill 796 on May 7 in a 77-18 vote.

[RELATED: UL Lafayette axes Office of Campus Inclusion in response to ‘federal directive’]

The legislation places various limitations on DEI, specifically banning “diversity, equity, and inclusion positions, departments, activities, procedures, or programs to the extent they grant preferential treatment based on one person’s particular race, color, ethnicity, or national origin over another’s.”

The bill also prohibits requiring diversity statements or “any person to disclose his or her pronouns.”

Supporters of the proposed law say that DEI acts as a barrier to proper education. 

“We don’t want to run away from teaching difficult subjects, but what we’re seeing is students that are going into college to learn, say, to be an engineer, having a whole other topic that they’re having to study, taking out student loans, taking a longer time in college,” Representative Denise Crosswhite Hader, a bill sponsor, said in March.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt appears likely to sign the bill given his history with DEI. In December 2023, he signed an executive order requiring universities to make cuts to DEI personnel. 

When The Daily Caller reported last November that the University of Oklahoma required students to take a DEI course on “white privilege,” Stitt condemned the university on X.

“Universities are more focused on pronouns than they are prepping for the workforce,” he said in the post. “And left-wing accreditation monopolies that peddle DEI curriculum hide out of sight and let liberal faculty call the shots.”

Universities are more focused on pronouns than they are prepping for the workforce. And left-wing accreditation monopolies that peddle DEI curriculum hide out of sight and let liberal faculty call the shots.

It’s time to clean this up. https://t.co/CPkeyiyOg6

— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) November 18, 2024

[RELATED: University of Toledo winds down 20+ programs in response to anti-DEI law]

If S.B. 796 becomes law, Oklahoma would join a growing number of states that have passed anti-DEI legislation. Many universities have had to scrap DEI offices and programs in response to such law changes. 

The University of Kentucky canceled its identity-based graduation ceremonies following the state’s passing of H.B. 4. Likewise, Ohio University officials announced the school would be sunsetting its Division of Diversity and Inclusion after state officials approved S.B. 1.

Campus Reform has contacted Governor Stitt’s office for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.