In early November, Kansas lawmakers said they received reports suggesting Kansas State University is ignoring state law and still has so-called “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI) policies in place.
At issue — at least in part — is a textbook for K-State’s introductory English class called “(Re) Writing Communities and Identities.
“(Re)Writing Communities and Identities” is the required text book for the ENGL 100 course.
The introduction to the book notes, “As part of this process, you will be asked to re-think and re-consider some commonly held assumptions about topics concerning human identity and diversity, hence the ‘re’ in the textbook title.”
Students are told they will be “reading and writing about issues such as gender, socioeconomic class, race, and ethnicity.”
Indeed, the word “gender” appears no less than 320 times in the textbook. Identity appears more than 100 times.
“As part of this process, you will be asked to re-think and re-consider some commonly held assumptions about topics concerning human identity and diversity, hence the ‘re’ in the textbook title,” the introduction reads.
Scattered throughout are examples of asking students to write about “gender expectations,” race, and other “class” issues.
What any of this has to do with learning to write a research paper is unclear.
According to KSN TV, Kansas Senate Majority Leader Chase Blasi said the situation is “frustrating.”
“Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a new law that prohibited DEI practices on our college campuses, and what is happening is some of the universities are rebranding these programs to do the same things that the Legislature has explicitly prohibited,” he told the TV station.
As of August 1 of this year, state law bans the use of DEI within higher education in Kansas. SB125, passed in the 2025 session, included language directing the Department of Administration to certify that state agencies have eliminated Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion positions, policies, programs, and related grants or contracts.
Kansas is not the only state where DEI is being snuck in under the radar
According to Fox News, an undercover video showed administrators at North Carolina A&T State University discussing the way they are sliding around state and federal requirements to roll back the controversial policies.
“It shook things up around here, but fortunately for us, this office is not actually under the DEI office at all, so we’re able to just keep going,” Pascha Miller, Office of Intercultural Engagement assistant director at the university, said in a video obtained by Accuracy in Media.
“We just, like, switched up our, you know, changed the wording of things.”
According to Fox, the videos were taken in August and September of 2024 after the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors voted to essentially ban DEI and focus on “institutional neutrality,” Carolina Journal reported.
The story notes, “Michael Eccles, the university’s office manager for the Office of Intercultural Engagement, said in the video, ‘The word ‘diversity,’ we had to change saying ‘diversity’ to competency.'”
Eccles agreed that he would describe the process as “creative naming.”
Fox reports that Austin Horne, assistant director of LGBTA programs and services at the Office of Intercultural Engagement, is also seen in the video.
“The Board of Governors did a statute in May that is really like, attacking DEI jobs and restricting some of our language,” Horne said. “It is very intentionally vague, is what, you know, the way I read it. But it’s really leaving it up to, you know, each university to kind of think about it in their own way and consider how much they want to open themselves up to litigation. But, luckily, I think there’s only been one position that wasn’t lost, it was just changed here.”
“North Carolina’s universities have been captured by lawbreaking radicals, and they require fundamental reform,” Adam Guillette, president of Accuracy in Media, told Fox News Digital.
“Any government employee who is caught circumventing laws should never again be allowed to earn a paycheck from taxpayers. And the legislature needs to enact a Kansas-style DEI ban, which includes both a reporting mechanism and actual consequences for those who flout the law.”
Kansas DEI ban has actual teeth
HB 2105, which passed in 2024, prohibits the State Board of Regents (board) from investigating a complaint on behalf of any person who believes their rights were violated. The board is required to complete an investigation to determine whether a violation has occurred within 45 days of receipt of the complaint. If the board determines the postsecondary educational institution is in violation, the institution must remedy the violation within 90 days, and if the institution fails to remedy the violation within 90 days, the board will be required to report the incident to the attorney general, who may file an action in district court against the institution. If the board determines the institution was not in violation, the complainant can file a complaint with the AG’s office, which would be required to investigate the complaint within 45 days. If the AG indicates there has been a violation, the institution would have 90 days to remedy the violation. If they fail to do so, the Attorney General may file an action in district court.
The district court can then require the institution to comply, impose a civil penalty of $1,000 per violation, and require the institution to cover any expenditures by the AG for enforcement.
The Kansas law also requires the Board of Regents to post the findings and outcomes on its website and requires a yearly report of the number of complaints, violations and outcomes, as well as penalties to the Kansas Legislature.
Several Kansas school districts are also under investigation for civil rights violations related to DEI practices.
