DEI bans for schools, colleges passed by Mississippi Legislature
The legislation, House Bill 1193, passed by the House Tuesday, April 1, and Wednesday, April 2, in the Senate, would fall in line with recent executive orders signed by President Donald J. Trump to ban DEI policies within the federal government. The bill, on top of banning DEI policies and teachings, also seeks to establish internal reporting mechanisms and legal recourses to prevent any DEI activity.
"We had to take into consideration the federal executive orders that have passed down," Senate Universities and Colleges Chairwoman Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford said. "We worked with the House to get a bill that we thought would be good guidance for our K-12 schools, our community colleges and our IHL institutions to work with what we were looking for."
During every debate in both the House and Senate this session, Democrats have challenged the legislation, saying it would erode protections for minorities that have helped to make Mississippi's education system a more inclusive setting for both working professionals and students.
'What diversity, equity and inclusion does is it is a mechanism that opens the door for me that your fathers or your grandfathers or somebody down the road opened for you," Sen. Rod Hickman, D-Macon, said on the Senate floor in February.
Senate passes DEI ban: DEI ban passes MS Senate. See who will be impacted
DEI in the past was pegged as a method to ensure minority populations and underrepresented groups were not held back from both professional and educational opportunities. In recent years, those policies have come under attack by state and national Republicans, who have labeled DEI discriminatory.
DEI opponents have also argued the policies force identity politics and education on students, putting groups of people into discriminatory labels.
There are some groups and acts, including disabled students and veterans, any scholarly research and student organizations, that are exempt from the legislation seeking to ban DEI policies and activities. Some concepts such as gender identity will also be removed from education policy and curriculums, which fall in line with a statewide effort to align national GOP practices.
When the House and Senate first proposed their bills, there was a big difference in how DEI ban policies would be reported and enforced. The House initially pushed for a process where state funding could be suspended for schools or universities that were reported to be in violation of the new law, as well as a method for litigation against that institution.
The Senate preferred a more in-house approach, allowing for any violation to be dealt with internally at first, with a task force committee to study education efficiency attached to the bill.
House passes DEI ban: MS House passes DEI ban. See who would be impacted
Both chambers eventually compromised and the legislation now allows for an internal review process of any DEI ban violations and people can sue only after that review has been completed.
That review period lasts 25 days for the school or college to "reverse" whatever DEI or DEI-adjacent activity that has been reported, and people could only sue after that. They could also ask the state attorney general's office to sue on their behalf if they do not agree with any findings in a report produced at the end of that 25-day review period.
The DEI ban comes on the heels of the Trump administration's efforts to ban DEI within the federal government and within education. Since his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump has been firm that eliminating DEI is a priority for his team and himself.
This year Republicans in both chambers have worked to eliminate DEI after state colleges had been amending many of their DEI policies to fall in line with national GOP trends. It also happened to one of only a few legislative priorities that made it out of the 2025 session.
Lawmakers on Wednesday and Thursday gaveled out the session early after they could not come to an agreement on the state's $7 billion budget. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said on Thursday afternoon he plans to call a special session to fund the coming fiscal year, which begins on July 1.
Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: DEI bans pass MS Legislature
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