Programs for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; prohibit universities from establishing or maintaining.
An Act To Define Terms; To Prohibit Public Land-grant Institutions Of Higher Learning From Expending Appropriated Funds To Establish, Sustain, Support, Or Staff A Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Office; To Prohibit Public Or Land-grant Institutions Of Higher Learning From Expending Funds To Contract, Employ, Engage, Or Hire An Individual To Serve As A Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Officer; To Establish Parameters For The Prohibitions On Offices And Officers Of Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion At Public Institutions Of Higher Learning; To Allow The Ihl Board To Reallocate Funds That Otherwise Would Have Been Expended On Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Offices Or Officers In Fiscal Year 2025 To Cover Certain Merit Scholarships And Tuition Costs; To Prohibit Public Or Land-grant Institutions Of Higher Learning From Requiring Diversity Training; To Prohibit Public Institutions Of Higher Learning From Requiring Or Soliciting Diversity Statements For Certain Purposes; To Prohibit Public Or Land-grant Institutions Of Higher Learning From Granting Preferential Consideration To Certain Individuals Based On Race, Sex, Color, Ethnicity, Gender, Or Sexual Orientation; To Require Each Public Institution Of Higher Learning To Produce A Report Confirming Compliance With This Act; To Establish A Process For Reporting Violations Of This Act; To Allow The Attorney General To File Suit To Compel Compliance; To Establish A Civil Cause Of Action For Violations Of This Act; To Establish Proper Jurisdiction; And For Related Purposes.
2025 Regular Session
Public or land-grant institutions of higher learning in the State of Mississippi may not expend appropriated funds or otherwise expend any funds derived from bequests, charges, deposits, donations, endowments, fees, grants, gifts, income, receipts, tuition, or any other source, to establish, sustain, support, or staff a diversity, equity, and inclusion office or to contract, employ, engage, or hire an individual to serve as a diversity, equity, and inclusion officer.
Any funds that would otherwise have been expended on diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or diversity, equity, and inclusion officers in Fiscal Year 2025 may be reallocated, at the discretion of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, to merit scholarships for lower- and middle-income students, and to reduce tuition for in-state students.
"Diversity, equity, and inclusion" includes: [...] (iv) Any effort to promote or promulgate trainings, programming, or activities designed and/or implemented with reference to race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation; and (v) Any effort to promote as the official position of the administration, the college, the university, or any administrative unit thereof, a particular, widely contested opinion referencing unconscious or implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology, microaggressions, group marginalization, anti-racism, systemic oppression, social justice, intersectionality, neo-pronouns, heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender theory, racial or sexual privilege, or any related formulation of these concepts.
History
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| 2025-02-04 | Died In Committee |
| 2025-01-20 | Referred To Universities and Colleges;Judiciary, Division A |