With President Donald Trump elevating bans of diversity, equity and inclusion programs to the top of national Republicans' education agenda, Mississippi lawmakers are working to shutter DEI across the state's higher education system. Legislatures will now determine the route they go in rooting out DEI in the state's colleges and universities.
DEI programs have come under fire mostly from conservatives, who say the programs divide people into categories of victims and oppressors, worsen antisemitism and introduce left-wing ideology into every aspect of college campus life.
Mississippi lawmakers are poised in 2025 to move forward with legislation targeting the programs. In the House, Republican Reps. Donnie Scoggin, Joey Hood and Becky Currie have introduced bills to clamp down on DEI. Hood's bill would eliminate diversity training programs that "increase awareness or understanding of issues related to race, sex or other federally protected classes." Scoggin said the Legislature should settle on a finished product that is "semi-vague" in its language to protect universities from a flurry of legal challenges and funding cuts by the state.
Scoggin also has said he and Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford, chairwoman of the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee, made it clear to university administrators that DEI programs, excluding those that benefit groups such as veterans and disabled students, needed to be whittled down. Scoggin and Boyd both said in interviews with Mississippi Today that they consulted campus administrators when writing their proposals to restrict DEI.
Boyd's bill includes language that would increase data collection on enrollment and graduation rates at state institutions. The policy details are unfolding amid the early stages of a potential Republican primary matchup in the 2027 governor's race between State Auditor Shad White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.
The Senate Universities and Colleges Committee could take up DEI legislation as soon as its Thursday committee meeting.
This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.