An article from Dive Brief Arizona bill to cut off state funding over college DEI courses gains traction

If signed into law, faculty at the state’s public colleges would not be able to teach about subjects like antiracism and unconscious bias.

Published Feb. 28, 2025 Laura Spitalniak Editor

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The University of Arizona, the state's flagship, could risk losing hundreds of millions of dollars by teaching DEI under a new Republican-led proposal. aimintang via Getty Images Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.  Dive Brief:

• An Arizona bill that would cut all state funding for public colleges offering classroom instruction related to diversity, equity and inclusion cleared a key legislative hurdle Thursday. State Senate lawmakers advanced the bill in a preliminary vote, and a final Senate vote on the measure could come as soon as Monday.
• If enacted, the legislation would prohibit faculty at the state's public universities and community colleges from relating “contemporary American society” to a wide range of social and economic topics, including whiteness, antiracism, unconscious bias and gender-based equity.
• It would also ban colleges from teaching that racially neutral or color-blind policies or institutions "perpetuate oppression, injustice, race-based privilege, including white supremacy and white privilege, or inequity."

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State Sen. David Farnsworth introduced the bill earlier this month, saying in a recent press release that he was motivated to do so after taking a class at a nearby community college.

"The course provided by the local community college represents the very ideology that is dividing America, teaching students to view white American men through a lens of privilege and oppression," he said. 

Farnsworth further described education about gender fluidity as "indoctrination" and said his proposal puts "students' academic futures over political agendas."

If the bill is enacted, faculty would not be allowed to “relate contemporary American society to”:

• Critical theory.
• Whiteness.
• Systemic racism.
• Institutional racism.
• Antiracism.
• Microaggressions.
• Systemic bias.
• Implicit bias.
• Unconscious bias.
• Intersectionality.
• Gender identity.
• Social justice.
• Cultural competence.
• Allyship.
• Race-based reparations.
• Race-based privilege.
• Race-based diversity.
• Gender-based diversity.
• Race-based equity.
• Gender-based equity.
• Race-based inclusion.
• Gender-based inclusion.

The bill would allow colleges to teach about subjects related to racial hatred or race-based discrimination, like slavery and Japanese-American internment in World War II — but only if instructors do not include any of the above subjects.

The proposal faces an uncertain fate, as control of Arizona's executive and legislative branches is split between parties, with a Democratic governor but Republican control of the House and Senate. 

Despite growing more conservative through the 2024 election, the Republican party doesn’t have a veto-proof supermajority. And Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, who has voiced support for and spearheaded DEI initiatives, is unlikely to sign the bill.

Even so, the bill threatens large pools of funding for Arizona’s higher education institutions, especially its three public universities.

Arizona’s public four-year institutions receive 74% of their funding from state support, according to a 2024 report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. 

For example, the University of Arizona's main campus got almost $303 million in state general funds in fiscal 2024.

Farnsworth's bill comes as Arizona colleges are already facing two powerful headwinds — a $96.9 million reduction in overall state funding for fiscal year 2025 and a wave of federal DEI restrictions.

Since taking office Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has signed executive orders attempting to eliminate DEI in higher education and elsewhere, though a court order recently blocked major portions of two of those orders. And the U.S. Department of Education recently issued guidance giving colleges until the end of February to cut all DEI or risk losing federal funding.

The University of Arizona recently took down the webpage for its Office of Diversity and Inclusion. The flagship also removed references to "diversity" and "inclusion" from its land acknowledgement — a statement recognizing the Indigenous tribal land the campus sits on — though the original version remains available on at least one department webpage.

Protesters on the University of Arizona's main campus called on the institution’s leaders Thursday to continue its DEI initiatives.

As of Thursday evening, almost 2,500 University of Arizona students, employees, affiliates and others signed a letter calling for the institution to reverse the changes it made to its web presence.

"We view your actions as preemptive and harmful over-compliance," the letter reads, referencing the university's response to the Education Department’s guidance and Trump’s executive orders. "Faculty, staff, and students should not have to fear political retaliation for upholding academic freedom, engaging in free speech, or advocating for their rights."

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