Republican Senator Calls for Investigation Into College DEI Programs’ Use of Federal Funds

Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy has escalated Republicans’ efforts against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs on campus, requesting that the Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General investigate how colleges and universities use federal funding to promote DEI ideology.

The primary problem with DEI is that it does not actually promote inclusivity, Cassidy wrote in a letter to the Inspector General. It is the opposite of diversity of thought when all members of the campus community are forced into groups based on their race and heritage.

The letter says colleges are spending record amounts on DEI infrastructure as the cost of college rises and that DEI ideology is being used by institutions to justify discrimination and acts of intimidation on college campuses, particularly against Jewish students.

Cassidy also objects to colleges and universities requiring DEI courses as a graduation requirement and weaving the DEI ideology into general education curricula requirements for all undergraduate students.

Cassidy, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, asked the Inspector General to investigate how much federal funding has been used to operate DEI offices, compensate DEI employees, and pay for DEI-related programming.

He also requests a list of institutions that mandate diversity statements, DEI training, implicit bias tests, and DEI-related classes as a graduation credit.

Additionally, Cassidy seeks documents and materials that refer to Jewish people or the state of Israel for institutions currently under investigation by the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights for antisemitism.

As recipients of federal grant funding and the beneficiaries of trillions of dollars in federal student loans, colleges and universities should prioritize the academic success of their students over advancing ideological activism, he wrote.

Cassidy has taken aim at diversity efforts on campus before. In June, he, alongside several congressional Republicans, including Ohio Sen. JD Vance, introduced the Dismantle DEI Act, which aimed to abolish all federal DEI programs and restrict funding to organizations and agencies that maintain DEI programs.

DEI institutionalizes discrimination in hiring, Cassidy said in a press release announcing the legislation. Taxpayers expect the most qualified candidates to be hired, not the most favored.

Individual states are also taking action to prohibit DEI programs on campus. Currently, there are more than 30 bills across the country targeting DEI funding, practices, and promotion in public schools, which includes state colleges and universities.

As of May 2024, 10 bills have been signed into law by a governor: two in Florida, one in each of the Dakotas, one in Tennessee, one in Texas, one in Utah, one in Alabama, one in Idaho, and one in Iowa.

However, despite the legislative push to ban DEI practices on campus, surveys indicate that college students don’t support these efforts.

In a 2023 BestColleges survey of 1,000 students, over half (55%) said they would consider transferring if their college abolished DEI initiatives. Additionally, a majority (59%) said that if a college they were considering had abolished DEI initiatives, it would have impacted their decision to enroll at all.

Some colleges and universities are getting ahead of anti-DEI legislation.

The University of Missouri announced last month it was dissolving its DEI office even though an anti-DEI law hasn’t been passed in the state yet. In May, the University of North Carolina System also eliminated its DEI policy despite no state legislation mandating it.