Missouri Moves Closer to Cracking Down on DEI in Higher Education

A bill moving its way through the Missouri Senate would make huge strides in curtailing the role of DEI in enrollment and hiring decisions at the state’s public colleges and universities.

The bill, SB 1125, would prevent state institutions of higher education from enforcing any discriminatory ideology that treats individuals differently on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and other immutable characteristics. Perhaps most importantly, the legislation would prohibit Missouri’s public colleges and universities from requiring employees and student applicants alike to submit a DEI inclusion statement, or from giving preferential treatment to applicants on the basis of an unsolicited DEI statement.

Individuals who are compelled to submit any discriminatory statement in violation of the proposed law would be eligible for legal remedy, and employees who break the law would face unpaid leave or even termination.

A recent April 23 hearing on the bill highlighted the strong arguments made to rid higher education of DEI, and also the concerns by vested interests who are frightened over the prospect of removing the ability of colleges and universities to discriminate.

Do No Harm Action Senior Fellow Raheem Williams testified in support of the bill, noting how mandatory DEI inclusion statements are essentially modern-day loyalty oaths, reminiscent of the loyalty oaths during McCarthyism.

Williams also pointed out two critical points that the pro-DEI establishment would love to ignore: First, when colleges pledge their adherence to DEI, the results typically hurt minority students and applicants. And second, in states that have restrictions on DEI, colleges and universities have thrived in terms of minority applicants and enrollment.

A not-so-surprising list of subjects testified in opposition of the bill in order to protect the woke status quo. For example, the NAACP claimed the legislation would disadvantage students who couldn’t tell their full life’s story—even though the bill would have no bearing on preventing students from expressing their views and would simply prevent them from being compelled to pledge a loyalty oath.

The Council on Public Higher Education claimed that the bill should be cast aside because they have allegedly never seen loyalty oaths in Missouri. But whether or not the Council has personally observed such oaths is no reason to delay advancing meaningful protections for students and faculty alike. Moreover, Senator Ben Brown—the bill’s sponsor—dismissed this baseless concern, noting, “In ten minutes I found three university jobs that require DEI oaths with their application. In another ten minutes I bet I can find more.”

Senator Brown is right. In fact, the influence of DEI at colleges and universities in Missouri is far more severe than DEI proponents would admit.

For example, the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has pushed the idea that nutrition is racist, as is body mass index. The University of Missouri School of Medicine has pushed out DEI events and training materials, had a federal civil rights complaint filed against it by Do No Harm for a racially discriminatory scholarship program, and spent nearly $40,000 on parties and swag to recruit minority students.

Put simply, the false notion that DEI is somehow absent from Missouri colleges and universities is nothing but a myth.

If the legislation passes, Missouri will join other states that have recently cracked down on the pervasive influence of DEI in higher education. Last year, Florida passed similar legislation banning loyalty oaths in admissions and hiring practices at state colleges and universities, while also restricting spending on other DEI initiatives. Texas also passed among the strongest anti-DEI legislation in the nation last year, which restricted DEI in hiring and training and eliminated DEI offices, among other provisions. Utah passed a similar bill earlier this year cracking down on DEI at state institutions of higher education.

Missouri is primed to follow the lead of other states in combatting the pro-DEI establishment. If passed, Missouri will join the growing coalition of states rejecting the antiquated and morally repugnant use of loyalty oaths in college admissions and hiring—a practice that should have been abandoned long ago.