A bill that would ban diversity and inclusion efforts in Alabama schools and colleges is moving quickly through the state legislature.

SB129 would prohibit government institutions, including state agencies, public schools and colleges, from funding a diversity, equity and inclusion office and from sponsoring DEI programs or any program that “advocates for a divisive concept.”

At least eight of the state’s 14 public four-year universities have a specific office devoted to diversity and inclusion efforts.

Sen. Will Barfoot, R–Pike Road, filed the bill Tuesday afternoon and a committee voted 7-3 Wednesday to move it to the Senate floor with an amendment. The bill has more than 20 Republican co-sponsors.

“The reason that this bill is so difficult is because what others see as problems or potential problems, I don’t see that,” Barfoot said on the stand Wednesday, after a lengthy public comment and impassioned speeches from Senate Democrats.

“It’s certainly not the intent.”

Barfoot’s bill is the first to specifically ban DEI programs, and also includes a “bathroom bill” element that would prohibit higher education institutions from allowing individuals to use a restroom that is different from their biological sex.

Any employees who violate the act could be disciplined or fired.

Last spring, lawmakers sent a funding request to college presidents, asking them to report how much they spend on DEI efforts. AL.com found that much of the spending went toward anti-discrimination programs and other federally mandated services.

The legislation lists nine so-called “divisive concepts,” with most covering topics related to race, ethnicity, sex, religion and national origin.

Among the banned concepts: That individuals should feel guilty about or feel the need to apologize on the basis of their identity; that meritocracy and hard work ethics are racist or sexist traits, and that slavery and racism are aligned with the founding principles of the United States.

“This legislation just offends me deeply,” said Sen. Kirk Hatcher, one of the three Democrats who opposed the bill.

“I’m trying to see where there’s a need for that – this barrage of legislation that I’ve seen that seeks to exacerbate divisions rather than nurture and build on our rich diversity.”

In a last-minute public hearing, educators and advocates questioned the bill’s intent and compared the legislation to Gov. George Wallace’s stand in the schoolhouse door and Nazi book burnings.

A college student worried it would dampen their experience by putting multicultural organizations at risk.

Jerome Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center asked if the bill would prevent teachers from talking about the founding fathers’ views on slavery, or about policy issues like housing discrimination.

Some called the bill itself divisive.

“You fund Confederate monuments. You fund plantations,” Camille Bennett, founder of Project Say Something, told legislators Wednesday. “Divisive concepts are subjective. You don’t have the power to define them. So I humbly ask you to call it both ways, or the people will call it both ways.”

Supporters, all of whom were white, said they believed today’s students can’t discuss issues freely, and were being forced to accept ideologies they didn’t agree with. Becky Gerritson, of the Alabama Eagle Forum, claimed colleges’ increased spending on DEI was having an inverse effect.

“We’re spending millions of dollars in the state of Alabama on programs that divide us, on programs that dehumanize us, and I would like to see that stopped,” she said.

Origins of the bill

“Divisive concepts” bills first emerged after a 2020 Executive Order from former President Donald Trump, which targeted diversity trainings in government institutions and took aim at critical race theory, a 50-year-old legal concept typically taught in law school classes.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, at least 22 states have introduced legislation targeting college diversity and inclusion efforts as of July 2023. Oklahoma, Florida and Texas have now prohibited state funding toward such programs.

Alabama lawmakers filed similar legislation during the last two legislative sessions, but those bills never made it to final passage. Officials and educators have repeatedly countered the legislation, saying that the prohibited concepts are not taught in schools.

“The Constitution said it: We aren’t perfect as we built this, and we want you to always continue to improve our governance as we move along,” Jim Purcell, director of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, said last March, during a discussion on the upcoming legislation. “And we need to have these real conversations about what it means to be an American, and what it means to live in a society and be respectful of each other.”

Barfoot, whose mother was a history teacher, said the ban would not apply to instruction, so long as topics are taught in a “historically accurate context.”

“There’s so many things, the good, the bad and the ugly, that happened in the state of Alabama, the U.S., that we don’t talk enough about,” he said on the stand Wednesday.

The bill also says it will not impede federal reporting requirements or support services, prohibit housing or organizations that are segregated by sex, or affect student group activities or “certain circumstances relating to accreditation.”

Students or staff may host a DEI program or event, it added, but must not use state money to fund it.

An amendment to the bill, approved Wednesday, would ensure that the legislation doesn’t conflict with laws that require state boards to be diverse. Other amendments regarding grant activities and language around government offices were not approved.

A bill filed by Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, would have required K-12 history instruction to be fact-based and inclusive. That bill has stalled.

Barfoot told lawmakers that he hopes to see SB129 on the Senate floor as early as Thursday.