DEI legislation will hurt Kentucky’s college students by silencing their viewpoints | Opinion

As a university faculty member and librarian for more than 20 years, I have dedicated my career to helping students succeed. As a doctoral student in Educational Leadership at Eastern Kentucky University, I am deeply concerned about Kentucky House Bill 4, which aims to prohibit diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in Kentucky’s public postsecondary education institutions.

This bill misrepresents the purpose of DEI in education and threatens to deprive students — both those I teach and those like myself — of essential learning experiences.

Last semester, I taught “Foundations of Learning,” a required course for all incoming students. In one lesson, I used short YouTube videos to introduce a simple but profound concept: we all have aspects of our identities that shape our experiences. One video featured a student with a vision impairment struggling to navigate inaccessible websites. Another told the story of a young woman from Eastern Kentucky, proud of her dialect but pressured to hide it. A third highlighted a first-generation college student who felt lost until she found support and belonging through a campus diversity office.

Our class discussion was lively. Some students related to these stories, while others had never considered these perspectives before. They began discussing aspects of their own identities that meant a great deal to them, but were sometimes overlooked. By the end, the students arrived at the same realization: when people are forced to hide parts of themselves, they feel dehumanized.

This story illustrates what DEI actually looks like in an education setting. When educators openly acknowledge, accept, and value diverse identities and experiences, we foster a sense of belonging that, according to research, supports student success and increases graduation rates. HB4 threatens to undermine our efforts by restricting conversations about identity, equity, and inclusion—conversations that help students understand both themselves and each other.

HB4, as I understand it, mislabels “diversity, equity, and inclusion” as a “discriminatory concept” and seeks to ban its discussion — even going so far as to prohibit scholars like me from publishing research on DEI. This framing is not just misleading; it is fundamentally wrong. Restricting what we can write is an outright attack on academic freedom.

Discrimination is about excluding people based on their characteristics. DEI is about ensuring that all students, regardless of background, feel seen, valued, and prepared to collaborate in diverse environments. As Dr. Roger Cleveland at EKU often says, DEI isn’t about “calling people out.” It’s about “calling people in.”

At its core, education is about preparing students to think critically and engage with the world around them. Learning how to work effectively with people from different backgrounds isn’t just an academic exercise — it’s a workplace necessity. Employers consistently emphasize that cultural competence and adaptability are key skills for success in a global economy.

HB4 may be well-intentioned, but it is fundamentally misguided. Restricting open discussions about identity, equity, and inclusion doesn’t protect students — it limits their growth. Instead of silencing the conversations that help students understand themselves and others, we should be equipping them with the tools to navigate an increasingly diverse world. Education should empower students to engage with different perspectives, think critically, and form their own informed conclusions—not shield them from ideas that challenge them.I urge lawmakers to reconsider this bill, and I urge voters to contact their state senators (KY Message Line: 1-800-372-7181) to oppose it. Kentucky’s students deserve an education that prepares them for the real world—not one that shields them from it.

Kelly Smith, a librarian at EKU, lives in Lexington and serves on the board of the Bluegrass Activist Alliance.