Dr. Royel M. Johnson
SB 17 is one of several anti-DEI bills introduced across the country. So far, similar bills have been signed into law in Florida, Tennessee, Utah, North Carolina and North Dakota.
While these bills claim to “abolish DEI bureaucracies and restore equality in public universities,” they often involve considerable mischaracterizations of DEI and the critical supports these programs provide to students of color, LGBTQ+ students and other marginalized populations.
The USC report is intended to provide baseline data to understand campus racial climates before the law’s implementation and after. DEI encompasses a range of programming and policies that contribute to improving campus climate. This can include centers, identity-based student organizations and cultural awareness programs. SB 17 brings about the elimination of these entities.
“Texas is a bellwether state in many ways, and it has been part of the face of the far-right conservative movement and its coordinated attacks on DEI,” said Dr. Royel M. Johnson, an associate professor at the University of Southern California, director of the National Assessment of Collegiate Campus Climates (NACCC) and an author of the report. “In many ways, when Texas moves in a particular way, it becomes the model for other states to exercise agency in ways that are really concerning.”
The report draws on data from the NACCC, a trio of quantitative surveys focused on campus racial climate, administered by the USC Race and Equity Center.
Dr. Liliana M. Garces, the Ken McIntyre Professor for Excellence in School Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin, said this report is valuable and shows the consequences that anti-DEI legislation can have on the student experience.
