UK will disband its DEI office

The University of Kentucky will disband its office promoting diversity and inclusion efforts in response to questions from policymakers that its focus on identity has stifled political discussions, its president said Tuesday.

In the school’s action, units housed in the shuttered Office for Institutional Diversity will be shifted elsewhere on campus, including into a newly created Office for Community Relations, UK President Eli Capilouto said in a campuswide email. The restructuring won’t result in job losses, he said.

Capilouto stressed that the school’s core values remain intact — to protect academic freedom and promote a “sense of belonging” for everyone on campus, regardless of background or perspective.

“But we’ve also listened to policymakers and heard many of their questions about whether we appear partisan or political on the issues of our day and, as a result, narrowly interpret things solely through the lens of identity,” the campus president said. “In so doing, the concern is that we either intentionally or unintentionally limit discourse. I hear many of those concerns reflected in discussions with some of our students, faculty and staff across our campus.”

Universities in other states have been grappling with similar issues, he noted.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Rodney Bennett on Tuesday announced plans to dissolve the school’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Bennett was hired last year and is the first Black person to lead Nebraska’s flagship public university campus.

Bennett said he’s splitting the task of “supporting and building a sense of community and belonging” between several other offices.

“It is incumbent on each of us to foster a welcoming environment for all members of our community,” he said.

The quest to limit DEI initiatives gained momentum this year in a number of statehouses in red states. For instance, Iowa’s Republican-led Legislature approved a budget bill that would ban all DEI offices and initiatives in higher education that aren’t necessary to comply with accreditation or federal law.

Republican lawmakers in Missouri have proposed numerous bills targeting “diversity, equity and inclusion” initiatives in higher education and state government. Though the legislation hasn’t passed, the efforts have put pressure on institutions to make changes. The University of Missouri recently announced that it is dissolving its “Inclusion, Diversity and Equity” division and dispersing the staff among other departments.

In Kentucky, GOP lawmakers at the forefront of DEI debates said Tuesday that they welcomed the action taken by UK and urged other public universities to take similar steps.

The action comes after state lawmakers debated whether to limit diversity, equity and inclusion practices at public universities. Republican supermajorities in the Kentucky House and Senate were unable to resolve differences on the issue before ending this year’s session in April, but the matter has been expected to resurface when lawmakers reconvene early next year.



(AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)