Texas Senate passes bill to ban higher education institutions from implementing DEI policies

The Texas Senate passed a bill to ban diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in public higher education institutions.

The bill passed along party lines by a vote of 19-12. All Republicans voted for it; all Democrats voted against it.

SB 17, “Banning Discriminatory DEI Policies in Higher Education,” filed by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, with eight cosponsors, would amend state education code to prohibit public higher education institutions in Texas from establishing or maintaining DEI offices, officers, employees, or contractors that perform the duties of a DEI office. It also would prohibit these institutions from “requiring or giving preferential consideration for certain ideological oaths or statements that undermine academic freedom and open inquiry and impede the discovery, preservation, and transmission of knowledge,” according to the bill summary.

It would prohibit public higher education institutions from spending taxpayer money allocated by the state for a fiscal year until the institution’s board submits to the legislature and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board a report certifying the board's compliance with provisions of the bill.

It also would require each institution no later than Dec. 1 of every year to submit to the lieutenant governor and speaker of the House a report certifying the institution's compliance with a section that prohibits them from “compelling, requiring, inducing, or soliciting a student enrolled at the institution, an employee or contractor of the institution, or an applicant for admission to or employment or contracting at the institution to … endorse an ideology that promotes the differential treatment of an individual or group of individuals based on race, color, or ethnicity,” among other provisions.

It would prohibit the institutions from providing “preferential consideration to a student enrolled at the institution, an employee or contractor of the institution, or an applicant for admission to or employment or contracting at the institution on the basis of the person's unsolicited statement in support of” DEI ideology.

In a statement, Creighton said the bill “returns the focus on Texas campuses to harnessing the strength of our diversity, ensuring that everyone is treated equally and that no one is excluded.” He said after the Senate passed the bill Wednesday that “Texas leads the entire nation with the boldest legislation to end DEI and promote true diversity in higher education.”

After the bill passed, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Senate, said, “Texans have some of the best higher educational opportunities available nationwide, right here at home. However, DEI hiring practices have caused division and must be stopped. Texas universities improve and the educational environment is enhanced when we recruit the best faculty based on merit and equal opportunity, not arbitrary quotas based on equity.

“The woke left’s drive to divide Texans is never-ending. Today, the Texas Senate passed SB 17 to ban divisive DEI offices and hiring practices at our universities to make sure that individual merit and achievement are rewarded.”

The bill has been received in the House but has yet to be assigned to a committee.

Similar bills were filed in the House by Rep. Carl Tepper, R-Lubbock, which would ban public higher education institutions from implementing DEI policies but also ban government entities from using taxpayer money to “practice woke discrimination, self-segregation and division.”