FRANKFORT − A bill filed in the first week of Kentucky’s 2024 General Assembly would let university employees and students sue schools if they believe they’ve been discriminated against due to their “refusal to support or endorse any divisive concept.”

Those “divisive concepts,” according to the GOP-backed Senate Bill 6, include the idea that one race or sex is superior to another, that a person can be “inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive” due to their race or sex, that a person should feel guilt or discomfort due to their race or sex and that Kentucky as well as the U.S. are “fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist.”

The bill was initially sponsored by Sen. Mike Wilson, R-Bowling Green, the chamber’s majority whip. He’s been joined in the Senate by co-sponsors Donald Douglas (R-Nicholasville), Stephen Meredith (R-Leitchfield), Robby Mills (R-Henderson), Damon Thayer (R-Georgetown, the majority floor leader), Lindsey Tichenor (R-Smithfield), Phillip Wheeler (R-Pikeville) and Max Wise (R-Campbellsville). It’ll be taken up by the Senate Education Committee.

The University of Louisville said it’s reviewing the legislation, while University of Kentucky leaders plan to “engage in discussions with legislators, policymakers and our campus.”

“We are a campus steadfastly committed to ensuring that we are a place of belonging for everyone as well as a community dedicated to the fundamental academic value and principle of open inquiry and the free exchange of ideas,” UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said Friday. “Those ideas are not only compatible, but essential, to who we are and what we do as Kentucky’s university.”

Still, if the bill is passed into law in its current form, students and employees who file successful discrimination lawsuits could land between $1,000 and $100,000 in damages and costs.

SB 6 says it would not stop universities from “promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion” as long as such efforts are consistent with its other requirements. It would also not prohibit training on responding to those “divisive concepts” as long as the response “does not endorse or advocate for divisive concepts.”

In a release, Wilson said he filed the legislation because diversity, equity and inclusion measures — known as DEI — are discriminatory and should not be taken into consideration at public universities that use state funds.

“We’ve seen a trend in DEI policies in our public universities that attempt to divide instead of unite people in that microcosm of society,” he said. “Instead of promoting intellectual dialogue, individualism, the content of one’s character and merit-based practices, DEI has driven a wedge against those of us who want to see Kentucky achieve greater things.”

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Speaking Wednesday before Gov. Andy Beshear’s State of the Commonwealth address, Senate President Robert Stivers said he hadn’t had discussions with House members about bills targeting DEI but any legislation would need a thorough review to ensure lawmakers “do things that don’t hurt us in one way or another.”

“We want to be measured in what we do,” he said. “How that will eventually look is still up for debate.”

Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: DEI at Kentucky universities targeted in Senate Bill 6