A new bill recently introduced in the Mississippi legislature would crack down on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the state’s public colleges and universities.
State Sen. Angela Burks Hill, a Republican, introduced Senate Bill 2223 on Monday.
The bill states that Mississippi’s public colleges and universities may not use funds to “establish, sustain, support, or staff a diversity, equity, and inclusion office or to contract, employ, engage, or hire an individual to serve as a diversity, equity, and inclusion officer.”
Money that normally would have gone to DEI offices and officials can instead be used to support “merit scholarships for lower- and middle-income students, and to reduce tuition for in-state students,” should the legislation be signed into law.
Senate Bill 2223 now awaits consideration in both the Universities and Colleges Committee and the Judiciary Committee.
The Mississippi bill marks one part of a broader push against DEI in higher education, and elsewhere.
Multiple states have enacted legislation combating DEI in higher education, including Florida, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Utah.
Recently, President Donald Trump signed executive orders ending against DEI. One of them, signed on Wednesday, combats DEI “discrimination in the federal workforce, and in federal contracting and spending.”
[RELATED: PROF. GARRETT: Leftists’ victimhood mentality persists as DEI retreat accelerates]
“Federal hiring, promotions, and performance reviews will reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work and not, under any circumstances, DEI-related factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements,” the White House announced.
Several prominent corporations have also recently announced plans to stop or limited their DEI initiatives, including Meta, Walmart, and McDonald’s.
Campus Reform has reached out to State Sen. Hill for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
