Senate committee advances bill that would ban campus DEI offices and trainings

Senate Bill 1198, a measure that would restrict diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at Idaho’s public universities, advanced out of the Idaho Senate Education Committee after a 10-4 roll-call vote to send the bill to general orders. The committee heard more than two hours of testimony from the bill sponsor, lawmakers and dozens of members of the public for and against the proposal.

The bill, introduced in the hearing by Senator Ben Toews, defines DEI broadly and would bar public institutions of higher education from maintaining DEI offices, mandating DEI-related training, operating bias-reporting systems that can trigger discipline for speech, or requiring students to enroll in DEI-related courses to satisfy degree requirements. It would still allow voluntary courses and programs dedicated to racial, ethnic or gender studies so long as students are not compelled to take them and would preserve legal obligations such as Americans with Disabilities Act requirements and other specified exemptions.

Sponsor remarks emphasized limiting what he called compelled speech and ideological training. "The freedom from a demand to think or speak a specific…