Oklahoma bill to codify Gov. Kevin Stitt's DEI ban at universities clears hurdle

Yahoo

09-04-2025

An Oklahoma Senate bill that would codify Gov. Kevin Stitt's executive order prohibiting state funds from supporting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at higher education institutions is inching closer to becoming law.
Senate Bill 796, authored by Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, would require universities to submit a certificate of compliance showing that tax dollars are not being spent on DEI initiatives to the governor and legislative leaders by July 1, 2026, and every July 1 thereafter.
The measure passed in the House Postsecondary Education committee 4-2 on Tuesday with Rep. Michelle McCane, D-Tulsa, and Rep. Trish Ranson, D-Stillwater, voting against it.
Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader, R-Piedmont, SB 796's House author, told the committee that the bill would stop preferential treatment at Oklahoma universities. She said she believed athletes at some universities had been required to participate in trainings on white privilege, but did not say where or when that had happened.
The lawmaker said equity creates determined outcomes while equality creates outcomes based on merit. She did not vote on the bill Tuesday as she's not a member of the committee.
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"What we're seeing is students that are going into college to learn, say, to be an engineer, having a whole other topic that they're having to study, taking out student loans, taking a longer time in college for something that is really not anything that was on their radar that they're focusing on for an education," Crosswhite Hader said.
During the meeting, McCane, a Black and Native American woman, told Crosswhite Hader that she was called a racial slur for the first time when she was 5 years old, adding that there are numerous other 5-year-olds who haven't had that experience. McCane asked the representative whether she'd agree that kids who might be targeted with racial slurs would benefit from different types of support from children who don't face those taunts — equitable support rather than equal support, she said.
Crosswhite Hader said she would not agree.
Oklahoma universities have already pulled back DEI initiatives in response to Stitt's 2023 executive order that required state agencies and higher education institutions to formally review the necessity and efficiency of DEI positions, departments, activities, procedures and programs.
Five months after the directive, the University of Oklahoma announced the closure of its National Education for Women's Leadership program.
The program encouraged young women to engage in politics and public policy, and graduated more than 650 female students from 42 colleges since it was founded in 2002.
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At the time, the closure created heightened concerns about the fate of state-funded programs meant to empower women and minorities. That conversation resurfaced during the committee meeting on Tuesday when Ranson referenced the program's closure and asked Crosswhite Hader whether SB 796 would support that chilling effect, giving women fewer opportunities at universities.
"Though I participated in that organization, as well, that was an opportunity where the university took a proactive approach, rather than the state giving them a directive," Crosswhite Hader answered.
She said that the program was never responsible for her decision to run for office, adding that she never wanted to be elected because she's a woman, but because she wanted to be the best candidate.
During debate on the bill, McCane cited her own experiences to explain how systemic barriers can affect people of color. The 37-year-old representative is in the first generation of her family to have the rights of all Americans.
"We are not talking about extra. We are talking about people who have systemically and historically been kept out of spaces and have to work much harder, and this is about just giving them the help that they should have had from the beginning," she said.
Crosswhite Hader responded by saying, "Where someone's history falls, we have come a long way."
"Women in particular have the opportunity to serve in this body just like anyone else, but it is based on merit," Crosswhite Hader said. "It is not based on an extra starting block or even starting from behind. Any of us getting in this building has worked to make ourselves get to this position."
The two lawmakers continued to talk one-on-one for a few minutes after representatives voted to approve the bill.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma bill to codify Gov. Stitt's DEI ban at universities advancing