In the latest blow for the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement, the University of Kentucky has announced that it will be shuttering its DEI offices.
As reported by Breitbart, the University of Kentucky follows multiple other schools in Texas, Florida, and Alabama who have already taken the step of shutting down official DEI practices on-campus, where school administrators would facilitate the discrimination of student applicants and faculty hires on the basis of race and gender.
On Tuesday, university president Eli Capilouto issued a statement confirming that the DEI offices would be closed in response to the state legislature questioning if such functions had actively interfered with free discourse on campus.
“We have been discussing those questions in the context of the concerns that state lawmakers are raising around DEI,” said Capilouto. “States and universities all around us have been having these same discussions.”
“Many of the questions raised in these conversations, in fact, mirror the concerns that lawmakers are raising: How do we create space for divergent points of view? Or do we too often place ourselves in an ideological bubble that shuts out other perspectives,” he explained. “In creating the perception that we have centralized so much work around inclusion in one office, do we undermine the idea that creating a sense of belonging is a responsibility we all share, everywhere, on this campus?”
As a result of the decision, the university will end all mandatory DEI trainings, and faculty applicants will no longer be required to write a “diversity statement” in their applications. In its stead, the DEI office will be replaced with a new Office for Community Relations.
Similar actions were recently taken by the University of Alabama, which announced the closure of all DEI offices at its campuses in Birmingham, Huntsville, and Tuscaloosa last month, as well as the University of Florida, which fired all DEI employees earlier this year, and the University of Texas, which cut over 100 DEI-related jobs at campuses throughout the state back in April.
The DEI agenda has been facing increased scrutiny for the last several years, particularly after a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court last year which ended the nationwide practice of affirmative action, where universities were allowed to explicitly consider race as a factor in student admissions. Due to its many similarities to affirmative action, DEI practices at universities and companies across the country have been hit with legal challenges in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision.
Start the discussion at community.amgreatness.com