Goldwater Puts University of Kentucky on Notice: Comply with DEI Ban

The University of Kentucky just can’t quit its devotion to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), even though a new law bans the divisive practice and requires state schools to prohibit discrimination based on politics or social views. The university isn’t complying, so the Goldwater Institute is demanding that state leaders make them.

In March, Goldwater scored a landmark legislative victory when Kentucky lawmakers passed House Bill 4, banning DEI programs in public colleges and universities. The discriminatory DEI policies waste taxpayer money and transform college campuses into centers of ideological activism. The law now requires public universities to return to their primary purpose: pursuing knowledge and educating students. And it requires almost immediate compliance.

No later than June 30, all public colleges and universities were required to adopt a viewpoint-neutrality policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of an individual’s politics and social views and that promotes intellectual diversity on campus. A school’s governing board was free to craft its own policy.

But the University of Kentucky isn’t complying. The university’s board of trustees, which is required to adopt a policy, instead authorized University President Eli Capilouto to do its job. Not only is the president’s Institutional Neutrality Statement deficient—containing nothing about prohibiting viewpoint discrimination and promoting intellectual diversity—it was not adopted by the board as required by law.

Goldwater and Christopher Wiest of Kentucky—a member of the Institute’s pro bono American Freedom Network—are demanding that the university follow the law. In an open letter to Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman this week, Goldwater and Wiest demand that UK’s board comply with the requirements of HB4, and they urge Coleman to force them to do so.

The effort this year by Kentucky lawmakers to pass HB4 came on the heels of the Goldwater Institute exposing how a small, unelected council forced state schools to comply with its racist DEI objectives. In a report last year, Goldwater detailed how the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education required state colleges and universities to set race-based quotas for student enrollment and employee makeup. Schools that failed to meet the body’s objectives were punished and not allowed to expand their academic programs.

Across the country, DEI is losing ground as Americans push back against divisive agendas, especially on college campuses. That is why Goldwater’s legislative reforms to eliminate DEI have been so successful. However, impactful legislation needs to be enforced—when institutions ignore it, they undermine the law and public trust.

Goldwater’s pro-bono American Freedom Network lawyers ensure that the victories don’t just sit in statute books but have real-world protections.

You can read the letter here.

Stacy Skankey is the American Freedom Network Litigation Director at the Goldwater Institute.