Mississippi measure would end the DEI ideology in the state’s higher education

By Rachel Greco

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Mississippi measure would end the DEI ideology in the state's higher education

Mississippi state Sen – Angela Burks Hill introduced legislation to end the diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology in the state’s higher education system.

The bill would “prohibit public land-grant institutions of higher learning from expending appropriated funds to establish, sustain, support, or staff a diversity, equity, and inclusion office.”

The bill defines diversity, equity, and inclusion as “any effort to manipulate or otherwise influence the composition of the faculty or student body with reference to race, sex, color, or ethnicity,” as well as promoting “differential treatment” or providing “special benefits” to people based on their race, color, or ethnicity.

The Center Square contacted Burks Hill twice for comment but received no response. Hill chairs Mississippi’s Senate Constitution Committee and serves as vice-chair of the Drug Policy Committee.

Bill 2223 intends to eliminate diversity training requirements and the requirement for diversity statements “for certain purposes.”

The bill prohibits schools from giving “preferential consideration to certain individuals based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.”

“Expending funds to contract, employ, engage, or hire an individual to serve as a diversity, equity, and inclusion officer” is defined as unlawful.

All public institutions of higher learning will be required to “produce a report confirming compliance with” bill 2223.

The Mississippi State Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) board will reallocate “funds that would otherwise have been expended on diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or officers in fiscal year 2025 to cover certain merit scholarships and tuition costs,” according to the bill.

IHL director of communications John Sewell told The Center Square, “Senate Bill 2223 is still working its way through the legislative process, and we have no comment on it at this time.”

Mississippi’s eight public universities are Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, Mississippi University for Women, Mississippi Valley State University, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Southern Mississippi, according to the IHL website.

Bill 2225 is currently assigned to the Mississippi Senate Universities and Colleges Committee, according to LegiScan.

The Center Square contacted the committee’s chairman, Nicole Boyd, vice chair, Scott DeLano, and member, Albert Butler. None responded except Boyd, who informed The Center Square that there are “multiple DEI bills, including 2515.”

Bill 2515 is also currently referred to the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee, as indicated by LegiScan. It would also “establish the ‘Mississippi University System Efficiency Task Force’ to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of the public university system in Mississippi,” according to its text.

It would “require public institutions of higher learning and community colleges to ensure that each unit does not establish or maintain a diversity, equity and inclusion office,” according to the legislation’s terms.

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Rachel Greco

Rachel Greco covers life in US County, including the communities of Grand Ledge, Delta Township, Charlotte and US Rapids. But her beat extends to local government, local school districts and community events in communities that surround Lansing. Her goal is to tell compelling stories about the area that matter to local readers.

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