The Mississippi House and Senate have passed respective bills that will prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion language and programs in public educational institutions, following a pair of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that cut DEI programs on the federal level.
House Bill 1193, which passed Feb. 5 with a vote of 74-41, prohibits “public schools, state accredited nonpublic schools and public postsecondary educational institutions from creating, promoting and implementing diversity, equity and inclusion programs.”
This bill also prohibits these institutions from using diversity statements and training in hiring, admissions and employment practices.
Requirements for teaching and promoting that there are two genders, male and female, would also be implemented. This implementation would require higher education institutions to submit annual reports to the Mississippi governor and legislature to ensure compliance.
If passed by the Senate and signed into law by the governor, the bill would take effect July 1, 2025.
Senate Bill 2515 passed Feb. 6. with a 34-14 vote in favor of the bill.
This bill, which is also related to DEI, is being referred to as the “Requiring Efficiency For Our Colleges and Universities (REFOCUS) Act.”
The bill would create a Mississippi University System Efficiency Task Force to examine the efficiency of public universities and colleges in Mississippi “as it relates to the universities’ collective mission of enrolling and graduating more degreed Mississippians and retaining them in the state.”
It would also bar any public institutions of higher learning or community colleges from establishing or maintaining DEI offices.
The bill states, “This act seeks to ensure that employment, academic opportunities and student engagement are based solely on individual merit, qualifications and academic performance, without consideration of an individual’s views on diversity, equity and inclusion.”
If passed by the Mississippi House and signed into law, the bill would go into effect immediately.
Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford, is a co-author on the bill. The Daily Mississippian reached out for comment from Boyd but did not receive a response.
Both bills are pending procedural reconsideration before moving forward.
The Mississippi House and Senate bills were introduced on Jan. 20, the same day President Trump signed an executive order titled “Ending Racial and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.” This executive order was followed by another order on Jan. 21 titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.”
While both orders refer to DEI as “illegal and immoral discrimination programs,” the Jan. 20 order primarily focuses on DEI prohibition at the federal level.
The order signed on Jan. 21 enforces a DEI prohibition at federally funded educational agencies and higher learning institutions.
“Within 120 days of this order, the Attorney General and Secretary of Education shall jointly issue guidance to all state and local educational agencies that receive federal funds and issues of higher education that receive federal grants to participate in the federal student loan assistance program,” the Jan. 21 order states.
In the Jan. 21 order, Trump also encouraged the heads of all executive agencies, with the assistance of the attorney general, to “take all appropriate action” to advance the ideals of individual initiative, excellence and hard work, as outlined in the executive order.
This plan will require each agency to identify nine entities to investigate, which can include investigations of institutions of higher education with endowments over $1 billion.
As of June 30, 2024, endowment funds for the University of Mississippi exceeded $925 million with the expectation to grow, putting the university closer to being under the jurisdiction of this executive order.
Similarly, any large non-profits that are affiliated with the university could be investigated as a part of the enforcement of this order.
In response to the Jan. 21 executive order, UM Director of News and Media Relations Jacob Batte said that the university is currently planning for the effects that this order may have.
“The university is aware of the executive order and is evaluating its potential impact on our campus,” Batte said.
Emily O’Reilly contributed reporting.
