KY General Assembly should stop culture war on diversity. It hurts our state. | Opinion

The Republican leadership of the Kentucky General Assembly is back to finish the job on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). They could not pass this legislation in the last term, but their threats and demands on state universities have made the path much easier for the 2025 session.

I not only support DEI efforts personally, I work for a school that seeks to find ways to expand diversity, equity and inclusion for our students, faculty and staff. I fail to see the evil in DEI that others do and I do not buy the arguments that support their efforts.

Beyond my personal and professional commitments, I am very concerned about two areas that this legislation will impact. First, I love my home state, but Kentucky does not have a strong record or reputation for welcoming and supporting diversity. The current push carries echoes of historical moves that have kept one group in power and marginalized voices and perspectives that would enrich the Commonwealth in multiple and tangible ways.

The political climate is fueling this effort, just as it fueled Kentucky’s move to become Southern decades after the Civil War, which MaryJean Wall has documented so well, and just as it fueled the Day Law that made it illegal for African Americans and whites to attend the same school. The Day Law embarrassingly passed the Kentucky House 73-5 and the Kentucky Senate 28-5.

Second, my understanding of education differs greatly from the apparent assumptions of a large group of legislators. I grew up in a small, somewhat isolated, relatively poor Kentucky county, but there was this wonderful group of educated people – lawyers, doctors, teachers, ministers and others – who had seen more of the world and had been introduced to a world of ideas and possibilities. The influence of those people remain with me today.

When I went to the University of Kentucky for my undergraduate degree, I got a taste of what my earlier teachers had experienced. I met people from around the world, as well as people from Kentucky whose experiences were very different from my own. Most of all, I encountered ideas that challenged my narrow perspective and confronted my privilege.

I shudder when I hear about legislators in Kentucky and elsewhere curtailing the free and open exchange of ideas and possibilities. We’ve come to expect extreme measures from Florida’s schools and universities, but for the University of Iowa to close its gender studies department is shocking.

I have served as an administrator in higher education. A standard policy for trustees is “noses in, hands out,” which translates to trustees being fully informed on what is happening at the school but entrusting the work of the school to the administration, faculty and staff. The legislature has leap-frogged over the trustees and administration and jumped into decisions that accreditors rightfully expect the leaders and faculty of the school to make and implement. The education that students will receive will suffer as a result.

So, no DEI initiatives. Elected leaders and talking heads have made DEI into a monster from which the legislature is now going to heroically save us. Okay, I get it. But what are you going to do for a state in desperate need of entrepreneurial talent, diverse perspectives, more inclusive participation, and a lot less discrimination and hatred?

DEI initiatives do not just benefit people of color, as is often argued. I am a white male. I have always been included, but I have not always been aware and appreciative of the struggles and systems that others have had to deal with and continue to deal with regularly.

I am grateful for the personal growth I have experienced, however modest it may be. I mourn deeply that other people like me will not have that same educational opportunity for thoughtful engagement and enriching encounters with the world’s remarkable diversity.

William Kincaid is a seminary professor and minister who lives in Versailles.