West Virginia legislature seeks to ban ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ efforts in universities

On Tuesday, the West Virginia legislature proposed a bill that seeks to ban several components of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives that are commonplace on college campuses.

House Bill 3503, introduced by State Delegate Chris Pritt, would eliminate diversity statements and race-based preferential hiring practices, make mandatory diversity training illegal, and prohibit funding for DEI activities.

The bill bans “diversity statements” from being required on college admissions and employment applications, the Daily Wire reported.

In addition, it prohibits universities from requiring these DEI statements on hiring contract renewals, promotion processes, and administrative decisions.

According to the bill, a “diversity statement” is defined as follows:

[A]ny written or oral statement discussing an applicant’s or candidate’s:

(A) Race, sex, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation;

(B) Views on, experience with, or contributions to diversity, equity; inclusion; marginalized groups; anti-racism; social justice; intersectionality; confessing one’s race-based privilege; or related concepts;

(C) Views on or experience with the race, sex, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation of students and co-workers; or

(D) Level of support for any theory or practice supporting differential treatment of any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, gender, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

The proposed law follows similar measures that have already been implemented in other Republican-led states.

The bill would forbid higher education institutions from offering preferential treatment to students, staff, and faculty on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation. It would also ban mandatory diversity training programs that pertain to dismantling institutional structures, differentiating individuals based on identity, and conferring special benefits on certain groups.

The bill would additionally forbid institutions of higher education from spending money on DEI activities, establishing, sustaining, or staffing DEI offices, or employing an individual to serve as a DEI officer. Such activities would include race-based admissions policies, differential treatment or benefits based on race or sex, and promoting DEI as official institutional policy.

The legislation would affect existing DEI offices and officers at Concord University, Glenville State University, Marshall University, Shepherd University, West Liberty University, and West Virginia University. If passed, the bill would have sweeping implications for the DEI industry on college campuses in the state of West Virginia.