Kansas education officials are looking to change policy for the state’s public colleges to comply with Republican-supported mandates related to diversity, gender and race.
In the state’s new annual budget, Kansas lawmakers passed regulations prohibiting colleges from requiring students to take courses focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) or critical race theory (CRT).
It also outlines that each state institution must eliminate any positions related to DEI, end required diversity training for employees, and prohibit the use of gender-identifying pronouns in employee email signatures.
Democratic Governor Laura Kelly signed the budget into law but said she does not support the anti-diversity measures.
Educators critical of the new law say it could mean classroom censorship of discussions about how race, gender and sexuality tie into U.S. laws, history and sociology. They say the regulations are vague, without clear definitions for DEI or CRT.
Indeed, the law itself does not define the two terms. Instead, it directs the Kansas Board of Regents to define them by the end of July.
Regent Peter Johnston said he wants narrowly tailored definitions to decrease the risk of censorship.
“A concern that I’ve had is the ability of professional historians or professional political scientists to study these things from the lens of history or the lens of political science without running afoul of the law, based on a definition that is overly broad,” he said.
“What we’re really talking about is seeing CRT as the … only way to see these things, which, of course, is not what the law wants us to do.”
The Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s public universities and community colleges, must also submit a statement indicating it has adopted policy to comply with the goals of the new law.
A state committee is working through recommendations for complying with the new regulations, presenting some of them to the Regents for the first time on Wednesday. The board is expected to vote on the recommendations as soon as the board’s next meeting.
By the end of July 2028, the Regents must certify to the state that no college in the state is requiring students to enroll in a course related to DEI or CRT as part of their degree. There is an exception for programs that explicitly have a focus on racial, ethnic or gender studies.
If the Board of Regents fails to do so before the deadline, each public college in Kansas faces a potential penalty of $2 million per year.
Wichita State University Provost Monica Lounsbery expressed concerns about how the law could impact social science, clinical and education disciplines.
“All of these fields really require students to learn about human diversity,” she said. “And these are really important areas that … I feel our students need to learn in order to be prepared to assume those roles and jobs.”
“Our plan at Wichita State is, once we settle on a definition that makes sense, to try to identify all those courses and try to figure out how we can then prepare our campus community to really be able to deliver the content in a way that’s required of us in the [new law].”
Many Republicans say requiring students and employees to learn about DEI philosophy amounts to political indoctrination. They also say it diminishes educational institutions’ focus on merit in enrollment and hiring decisions.
But many elected officials who oversee education describe the new law as another example of overreach by the Kansas Legislature. They say decisions about education policy should be left up to the Regents, the Kansas State Board of Education and local school boards.
In response to the new regulations, some Kansas universities have already begun changing course requirements.
At Wichita State University, for example, the faculty senate voted to replace mandatory diversity credits with flexible options from other areas in general education. WSU also directed employees to remove gender-identifying pronouns from their email signatures.
Here’s the full draft policy discussed during the Kansas Board of Regents meeting on Wednesday:
“For the purposes of Section 147 of 2026 HB 2513, ‘DEI-CRT’ means diversity, equity, inclusion and critical race theory. ‘DEI-CRT course’ means any course whose course title or description includes DEI-CRT-related content.
‘DEI-CRT-related content’ means, with respect to DEI, content that intentionally establishes and promotes the preferential treatment of groups based on race, color, gender, ethnicity or national origin in violation of federal law. ‘DEI-CRT-related content’ means, with respect to CRT, content that defines a conceptual framework, as the singular and authoritative lens, establishing racism to be systemic within laws, policies, or institutions.
This policy does not prohibit postsecondary educational institutions from complying with federal or state law, including antidiscrimination laws, or from taking action against a student, faculty member or employee for violations of federal or state law.
Statement of Understanding
For the 2026-2027 academic year the goals established by Section 147 of 2026 HB 2513 are adopted by policy of the Board."
