Ohio and Kentucky enact laws banning DEI at public colleges

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Conservative lawmakers in both states successfully pushed through the bills after failed attempts in previous years.

Published March 31, 2025 Laura Spitalniak's headshot

Laura Spitalniak Editor

Ohio state Sen. Jerry Cirino and Gov. Mike DeWine, center, shake hands following the passage of SB 1 into law on March 28, 2025. Retrieved from Ohio Senate Republicans.

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In Ohio and Kentucky, public colleges will be forced to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts after each state passed new restrictions into law last week.

Conservatives in both states have led multiyear efforts to stamp out DEI in public higher education. But they found dramatically more success this legislative session amid the Trump administration's push to crack down on diversity initiatives.

Each law takes effect in about three months, giving affected colleges little runway to enact changes. But some institutions, having read the writing on the wall, preemptively complied with state legislators' demands.

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On Friday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law that is poised to fundamentally change how public colleges in the state operate.

Among its many requirements, SB 1 will:

Prohibit colleges from maintaining or establishing DEI offices or departments.
Largely bar colleges from making institutional statements on any topic the law deems politically controversial, including about “climate policies, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage, or abortion.”
Require colleges to demonstrate a dedication to intellectual diversity — defined as "multiple, divergent, and varied perspectives on an extensive range of public policy issues" — when approving courses, departmental goals and student learning outcomes.
Require colleges to establish a post-tenure review process for faculty who repeatedly fail to meet "performance expectations."
Ban strikes by full-time faculty.
Require colleges to publish a syllabus for each class that includes the instructor’s professional qualifications and contact information.
Create a required U.S. history college course with prescribed readings, like the U.S. Constitution and at least five essays from the Federalist Papers.

SB 1 threatens to reduce or pull state funding from colleges that don’t comply.

The bill takes effect June 25, just 90 days from the signing date.

Ahead of the change, Ohio State University late last month eliminated all of its DEI programming and offices. University President Ted Carter cited SB 1's momentum, as well as the Trump administration's crackdown on DEI, in doing so

The University of Cincinnati has also been bracing for the passage of SB 1. As of Friday, the institution was reviewing its policies and offerings to ensure compliance, according to a legislative FAQ.

The university said it is working to "gain clarity as to how and if" the new law will affect its student centers focused on identity, such as the African American Cultural & Resource Center, the Women’s Center and the LGBTQ Center. An institutional webpage about those centers had been taken offline as of Monday, though each still maintained a web presence.

With the exception of the required U.S. history course, the University of Cincinnati said it does not "currently anticipate that this legislation will limit what our faculty can teach" — "so long as faculty allow students to express intellectual diversity."

A previous version of SB 1 introduced in 2023 failed to gain traction among House lawmakers, despite Republicans controlling both chambers of the legislature.The major sticking point proved to be the ban on full-time faculty striking.

State Sen. Jerry Cirino, who introduced both versions of the bill, ultimately dropped the strike ban from that draft in an attempt to garner support for the bill, but it still failed to move forward.

Two years later, however, the new law includes the contested ban on full-time faculty strikes. DeWine signed it the same week that Ohio University faculty won their bid to unionize.

The Ohio chapter of the American Association of University Professors said its members had done "everything in our power" to fight the bill.

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"Unfortunately, with a gerrymandered legislature that is more interested in scoring political points than passing good policy, the odds were stacked against us," the group said in a Monday statement. "Still, we managed to keep the bill at bay within supermajority Republican legislatures for more than two years."

The Ohio AAUP said it is exploring "potential legal challenges to various facets of the bill."

Kentucky

Republican lawmakers in Kentucky passed a restrictive anti-DEI bill into law Thursday, overriding a veto from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.

Though Ohio's new law is more wide-reaching than Kentucky's, the two share elements.

Kentucky's new law will:

Ban colleges from spending money on DEI efforts.
Require colleges to cut all DEI offices and positions.
Mandate institutional audits every four years to prove colleges did not allocate resources to DEI efforts.
Ban colleges from requiring students to take classes designed primarily “to indoctrinate" them with a discriminatory concept, which the bill defines as promoting “differential treatment or benefits conferred to individuals on the basis of religion, race, sex, color, or national origin.”
Prohibit the state's higher education coordinating board from approving degree programs that require students to take those classes.
Ban the use of diversity statements.
Prohibit colleges from requiring employees or students to undergo diversity training.

The legislation exempts DEI training and programs required by federal and state law. Colleges have until the end of June to comply.

Earlier this month, Beshear vetoed the bill, saying Kentucky "should be embracing diversity, not banning it.” But Republicans hold a veto-proof supermajority in the state and quickly overrode the governor.

As in Ohio, conservative Kentucky lawmakers previously attempted to pass a version of the anti-DEI bill, to no avail. But it gained traction this session as the second Trump administration launched full-out attacks on diversity efforts.

Like Ohio State's leadership, University of Kentucky administrators also made institutional changes in anticipation of state law changes.

In August, President Eli Capilouto announced the public flagship had shuttered its DEI office and eliminated DEI positions amid increased legislative scrutiny.

Northern Kentucky University, which also shuttered its DEI offices at that time, said Friday it will end all of its remaining campus DEI initiatives by the end of the spring semester, according to WLWT.

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Ohio and Kentucky enact laws banning DEI at public colleges

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