Oklahoma\u2019s public universities have poured over $83.4 million into diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives over the last decade, leading critics — including some state lawmakers, conservative watchdogs and alumni — to call for DEI to be defunded in the Sooner State.<\/p>\n
They argue it’s a waste of money, has created divisive campus atmospheres, and is possibly unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
The $83.4 million<\/a> is the sum of all the DEI spending by Oklahoma\u2019s public colleges and universities since the 2013-14 school year, a figure provided by campus leaders after State Superintendent Ryan Walters demanded<\/a> the information earlier this year.<\/p>\n Line-item details showed that DEI events at Oklahoma colleges \u201chave included funding for drag-queen performances, a program on fostering \u2018Trans and Non\u2010Binary Resilience,\u2019 so-called \u2018antiracist\u2019 training, and a presentation on \u2018Black Jesus,\u2019\u201d the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n During the 2022-23 academic year, the schools spent over $10 million on DEI activities and payroll costs — the highest amount in the last 10 years and up from $7.1 million in 2013-14, the campus officials reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n The spending has prompted some major Oklahoma donors to yank<\/a> their funding, and over the summer some Republican state lawmakers proposed a resolution<\/a> to defund DEI in higher education.<\/p>\n Most recently, in mid-October, the Oklahoma Senate Education Committee hosted<\/a> a study discussion<\/a> highlighting the harmful effects of diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education, a lengthy meeting that featured a parade of scholarly experts who criticized DEI.<\/p>\n Among the speakers was Manhattan Institute scholar Ilya Shapiro, a constitutional law expert, who co-authored a policy paper<\/a> earlier this year calling for the abolition of DEI.<\/p>\n In an interview with The College Fix,<\/em> Shapiro said that while the idea of DEI is nice, the \u201cway these structures have been implemented, it means the opposite, in a very Orwellian-like way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStudents, including racial minorities, feel less welcome on campuses today than they did 20 years ago when we didn\u2019t have these measures in place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Also testifying before the senate was Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs President Jonathan Small, who argued<\/a> that taking money away from universities is the only way to make campus leaders respond.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen higher ed won\u2019t get the message, if they remove funding, higher ed starts to behave in a manner that\u2019s more befitting of the billions of dollars that it’s getting with taxpayer dollars,\u201d Small said.<\/p>\n The DEI funds are shouldered by taxpayers, tuition and donors, Brandon Dutcher, vice president of OCPA, a conservative think tank, told The College Fix.<\/em><\/p>\n OCPA also reported<\/a> that experts testified DEI initiatives may violate the 14th Amendment\u2019s equal protection clause, since it usually requires \u201cdiscrimination against some groups and special treatment for others based on race or other identity factors.\u201d<\/p>\n During the discussion, higher education policy expert Adam Kissel also pushed back on the argument that DEI is required in higher education to meet accreditation standards.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough it is true that accreditors have DEI standards, and you saw some of them posted, those standards don\u2019t require DEI officers,\u201d said<\/a> Kissel, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation. \u201cThey don\u2019t require DEI offices. And they don\u2019t define DEI in such a way that a university has to define it in terms of race or underrepresented groups in most cases.\u201d<\/p>\n Dutcher said the momentum is building in Oklahoma to defund DEI.<\/p>\n \u201cEncouragingly, some donors\u2014including a neurosurgeon and two members of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame\u2014have finally said enough is enough,\u201d Dutcher told The Fix<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s time for state lawmakers and Gov. Kevin Stitt to do likewise.\u201d<\/p>\n The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs has taken a leading role in exposing what some of the DEI money is being spent on, including using public records requests to determine<\/a> that the University of Oklahoma paid $29,000 for two drag queen performances this year.<\/p>\n