DEI Ban One Step Closer To Law, Despite Spirited Pushback

West Virginia lawmakers are moving forward in their effort to prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the state. But the push against DEI met impassioned opposition from a vocal minority in the West Virginia House of Delegates this week.

Members of the House Judiciary Committee took up Senate Bill 474 Tuesday morning. The bill would sanction sweeping changes to hiring, college admissions and school instruction in West Virginia by restricting the role race, ethnicity and sex can play in each process.

Most notably, the bill would eliminate DEI offices and initiatives from state government, plus state-funded educational institutions like public colleges and universities.

The bill would also forbid hiring practices in the state government that aim “to promote diversity, equity and inclusion,” prohibit DEI training as a job requirement, limit how identity can be discussed in public schools and authorize school staff to refuse the use of pronouns that align with a student’s gender identity — among other provisions.

Republican lawmaker pushes back

DEI programs have been a partisan flashpoint in this year’s legislative session, generally receiving support from the state’s Republican supermajority and pushback from Democrats and some outside advocacy groups.

Support for the bill mostly fell along party lines in the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday. But Del. Bill Flanigan, R-Ohio, voiced disapproval rooted in his educational background studying race as a law student.

“This bill, I think, is horrible,” Flanigan said. “Flat out, one of the greatest things I was able to accomplish in law school was critical race theory as a class. I understand a lot of you haven’t had that class, and it’s hard to explain to somebody that hasn’t had that class until you can actually see, historically, some of the things have happened in our country.”

The bill purports to promote neutrality in state government by mandating “color blind and sex neutral” practices, and avoiding training or instruction centered around things like “implicit bias,” “structural racism,” “racial privilege,” “social justice” and “intersectionality.”

But Flanigan argued it was “incorrect” to allege that race and ethnicity can be easily overlooked, or “to say that we are color blind.”

“We can’t just randomly say we’re going to eliminate diversity equity inclusion, because somebody somewhere said, ‘Oh shoot, man, white people are losing right now,’” Flanigan said. “It’s not bringing us forward in the country. I really think it’s holding us up.”

No other Republican lawmakers provided comments on the bill during Tuesday’s meeting, nor during a House Education Committee meeting that reviewed the bill last week.

The elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion programs has been an early administrative priority for Gov. Patrick Morrisey. Senate Bill 474 is one of numerous bills introduced to the West Virginia Legislature by Senate President Randy Smith, R-Preston, on behalf of the governor.

“From day one, I said that we’re going to root out DEI and eradicate the woke virus from infecting our schools,” Morrisey said Feb. 12 during an address to state lawmakers at the start of this year’s legislative session.

The bill previously passed the state’s upper legislative chamber on March 26.

Democrats voice dissent

The House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic lawmakers echoed some of Flanigan’s concerns, and questioned the benefit Senate Bill 474 would bring to every-day West Virginians.

 In a particularly forceful speech, Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, described the bill as emblematic of wider shortcomings Democrats see in this year’s legislative session.

“What are you all doing? What are you doing?” Fluharty said. “We’re checking some political boxes so people can win elections.”

Fluharty said DEI initiatives have far-reaching impacts than some lawmakers realize, citing a conversation with a resident who said DEI services at West Virginia University helped them access support for their attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, for the first time.

The bill would create some exceptions in its ban on DEI, protecting things like science and mathematics opportunities for women, single-sex athletic opportunities and programs for individuals with disabilities.

It would also reallocate higher education funds at public colleges and universities that would have gone toward DEI programs toward “merit scholarships for lower-income and middle-income students, first-generation college students or [reductions in] mandatory fees for resident students.”

Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, argues the bill is inconsistent in which groups it protects.

“This bill picks and chooses what type of diversity, equity and inclusion shall be illegal, and what types of diversity equity inclusion are explicitly allowed,” Hansen said. “Just to be clear, I think all these types of diversity, equity and inclusion are beneficial.”

Despite garnering pushback on both sides of the aisle, members of the House Judiciary Committee ultimately leaned in the bill’s favor. The committee advanced the bill through a verbal majority vote, sending it to the House floor with the recommendation that it pass.

Senate Bill 474 will have the opportunity to appear before the entire House for review and possible passage. If passed, the bill will be sent back to the West Virginia Senate for final approval, then to the governor’s desk.