On March 27, 2025, Kentucky’s state legislature voted into law two bills: one that bans diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programming at the states’ public higher education institutions, and another weakening tenure protections for faculty members.
The first bill, Kentucky House Bill 4, using vague and overbroad terms, bars DEI offices, staff, and training at the state’s public colleges and universities. It also prevents those institutions from requiring courses intended to “indoctrinate” (undefined) participants with a “discriminatory concept,” vaguely defined as one that “justifies or promotes differential treatment or benefits” for people based on “religion, race, sex, color or national origin.” It requires that universities eliminate all DEI offices and official positions by the end of June 2025. The bill threatens university autonomy by exercising state authority over public higher education institutions’ decisions about curriculum, programming, and hiring.
The second bill, Kentucky House Bill 424, requires public colleges and universities to institute a performance evaluation process that occurs at least once every four years for all presidents and faculty members, regardless of their tenure status. It gives university governing boards—rather than experts in the relevant academic fields—the authority to set the “performance and productivity” standards by which faculty are evaluated, and empowers university boards and presidents to fire tenured faculty, effectively removing the protections that tenure offers. Coupled with vague and overbroad language in House Bill 4, the second bill creates a risk that governing boards will dismiss faculty for legitimate academic inquiry into disfavored topics, undermining academic freedom.
Kentucky governor Andy Beshear had previously vetoed both bills. The Kentucky House and Senate overrode both vetoes.
The laws fit into a pattern of legislatures undermining university autonomy. At least 129 anti-DEI bills have been introduced across 29 states since 2023, with at least 19 becoming law. Kentucky House Bill 4, as most of the others, use broad language and undefined terms that conflate discriminatory activity, which is already prohibited under Titles VI and IX among other provisions, and nondiscriminatory research, teaching, or discussion of important and contested political, social, cultural, and economic issues concerning race, gender and sexuality, among other topics. State prohibitions on discriminatory conduct are permissible, while state restrictions on what topics or ideas may or may not be discussed on university campuses undermine autonomy, academic freedom, and free expression.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about government encroachments on universities’ authority to set policies concerning personnel, admissions, curricula, and the establishment of particular programs. Such actions undermine university autonomy and inhibit institutions’ ability to function freely, undermining academic freedom and democratic society generally. Actions targeting discourse or programming aimed at encouraging broad and successful participation in higher education by persons from a wide array of personal, economic, and social backgrounds may also erode core university values, including social responsibility and equitable access.
Sources:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2025/04/01/ohio-and-kentucky-ban-dei-reduce-tenure-protections
https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/03/27/ky-republicans-override-beshear-vetoes-show-who-makes-the-laws-around-here/
https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/02/18/ky-professors-say-bill-could-erode-academic-tenure-sponsor-says-its-not-about-tenure/
https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article302062789.html
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-general-assembly/2025/02/12/kentucky-legislature-2025-house-bill-4-dei-colleges-universities/78471951007/
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/25RS/hb4/bill.pdf