Senate committee advances bill restricting campus DEI offices and bias-reporting systems after extensive testimony

The Senate State Affairs Committee voted to send Senate Bill 11-98 to the floor with a due pass recommendation after several hours of testimony and debate on whether the measure protects free speech and academic freedom or unlawfully curtails campus programs and services.

Senator Ben Toews, R., District 4, sponsored the bill and described it as designed to make Idaho’s institutions of higher education “places to seek truth and build relationships.” Toews told the committee the measure draws definitions and provisions from legislation enacted or proposed in other states and lists numerous prohibitions, including bans on preferential treatment in admissions and hiring tied to DEI, limits on offices that investigate or discipline students for protected speech, and prohibitions on requiring students to enroll in DEI-related courses unless part of a chosen degree program. Toews said the bill includes an enforcement process that allows staff…