Just in time for America’s birthday, North Carolina and Kansas delivered the United States a most appropriate gift, one that certainly makes us a more perfect Union. Both states joined Florida in passing strong, meaningful laws banning diversity, equity, and inclusion in public universities.
Americans may wonder why these laws are necessary. After all, just after President Donald Trump was inaugurated, he signed an executive order prohibiting DEI programs and offices. State legislatures followed with laws of their own. The public understandably believed the matter was resolved. Sadly, my investigative team at Accuracy in Media has released video after video showing that those laws aren’t worth the paper they were printed on.
In reality, university administrators perfected the art of compliance theater. When politicians announce a DEI ban, the presidents and provosts issue statements pledging cooperation. Then the rebranding begins. DEI offices become “belonging centers.” Diversity officers become “student success” directors. Mandatory ideological trainings are repackaged under new names. Essentially, it’s business as usual from the folks who hate America.
That is precisely why many state-based DEI bans are worthless. Most of them lack reporting requirements, oversight mechanisms, or penalties for violations. Any law without meaningful consequences for breaking it is little more than a press release.
Making matters worse, course instruction consistently remains unchanged, as does the curriculum. Until recently, when North Carolina and Kansas passed their beefed-up laws, Florida was the only state to address curriculum and instruction in its DEI ban by prohibiting educators from promoting identity politics. Educators can still talk about controversial topics like fascism, communism, and even DEI in the appropriate courses, but they cannot promote them, and they cannot push politics in non-political courses.
The good news is that North Carolina and Kansas passed new, stricter laws in line with what was previously enacted in Florida. They should be applauded for showing real leadership in the fight to rid our education system of this toxic, divisive ideology. Their reforms signal a growing understanding that universities should not receive taxpayer dollars to promote ideological agendas that undermine the very principles on which the country was founded.
State leaders who truly want to save education by cutting off the head of the DEI snake must do the same. North Carolina deserves special praise for extending the ban to local governments and state agencies. That comes after our investigators exposed multiple cities in their states using tax dollars to promote this hateful ideology.
DEI isn’t just radical, it’s un-American. It’s in direct conflict with Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of a colorblind society. DEI ideology is a framework that divides society into categories of oppressors and oppressed. It teaches people to view one another primarily through the lens of race, sex, ethnicity, and group identity rather than shared citizenship. That worldview stands in direct opposition to one of America’s most enduring principles: E pluribus unum — “out of many, one.” DEI moves in the opposite direction. It emphasizes division over unity, grievance over gratitude, and group identity over individual character.
REBRANDED DEI OFFICES WON’T ENSURE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
One state at a time, lawmakers are beginning to understand what effective reform requires. Symbolic bans are not enough. If states truly want to remove DEI ideology from publicly funded institutions, they must enact Florida-style laws that prohibit public employees from promoting identity politics, require transparency, and impose meaningful consequences for violations.
As America celebrates 250 years as the world’s greatest, most exceptional nation, I’m bullish that we will conquer the DEI virus and continue our goal to become a more perfect Union.
Adam Guillette is president of Accuracy in Media.