Colleges 'subverting' DEI ban to face penalties, lawmaker warns

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Since Texas banned universities from implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives on the first of the year, campuses around the state have scrambled to adapt and determine how to comply.

In a letter to university system chancellors this week, State Sen. Brandon Creighton said he is "deeply concerned with the possibility that many institutions may choose to merely rename their offices or employee titles." He requested university leaders explain their efforts to comply in a May hearing of the Senate Committee on Education.

"We have feedback from campuses all over the state on either progress with implementing the laws as intended or continuing efforts to, in some cases, subvert the intentions and the spirit of the law," Creighton said in an interview Thursday.

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Senate Bill 17 bans universities from maintaining diversity offices or officers, prohibits mandatory diversity training, and eliminates any consideration of race from hiring decisions. Creighton did not specify examples of universities currently out of compliance with the law, nor is Nexstar aware of specific examples at this time.

Some universities have been unsure exactly how far the ban reaches, though, and some students have expressed confusion and frustration that their university's compliance efforts improperly harmed their cultural organizations.

For example, multiple organizations for Black students at the University of Texas Austin have reported experiencing drops or delays in funding.

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UT's National Association of Black Journalists didn't receive anticipated funding last October, as college leaders advised they could not guarantee the funds would comply with SB 17 when it took effect on the first of the year. The Black Student Alliance also reported the need to cut more than half of attendees to the Big 12 Conference, citing a lack of funding.

Creighton said, while the core intention of SB 17 is to regulate faculty hiring, some universities have been "very cautious."

"Certain affinity groups within the legislation, they're protected under the bill. The bill certainly is, from a much broader sense, about faculty hiring," he said. "When you go into requesting university funding, then there's going to be some some strict guidance from the General Counsel of those universities on how and what ways university funding -- public taxpayer dollars -- can be used. That's going to be up to the general counsel for those institutions."

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Creighton did not directly clarify whether funding for cultural student groups falls within the purview of SB 17. The law makes clear that the ban does not limit "creative work" by students or faculty or "an activity of a student organization" recognized by the university.

Creighton warned universities that noncompliance may result in freezing of state funding or legal action.

"What I am concerned about is hiring based on anything but merit," he said. "We're going to continue to pursue diverse outcomes with student body applications and with professors that apply. But those were not being delivered as outcomes under DEI units. DEI units had absolutely failed in that regard."