LOUISVILLE, Ky. — University of Louisville students and staff rallied against Senate Bill 6 on Monday, which is related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in schools.
The bill would ban trainings and orientations for colleges that discuss topics like white privilege and sexism.
According to Merriam-Webster, white privilege is defined as the set of social and economic advantages that white people have by virtue of their race in a culture characterized by racial inequality.
Opponents have warned the proposed restrictions on campuses could roll back gains in minority enrollments and stifle college campus discussions on topics dealing with past discrimination. However, GOP senators claim those same programs discriminate against certain people in the college hiring and admission processes.
About 100 students started at the Student Activities Center and then marched to the administration building.
They want the university to issue a statement condemning the legislation as strong as the one the University of Kentucky president previously released.
Students felt a recent statement released from the university had fallen short of that.
One student thinks if this bill passes, their Culture and Equity Center staff might be fired.
"I think we will definitely lose our quality faculty," student Carlie Reeves said. "And they will leave to go to colleges that they can fully and completely teach these necessary topics, such as white privilege, or the history of oppression in America."
The bill passed the full House on Friday and just needs the Kentucky Senate to agree with the amended version.
If that happens, the bill would likely become law.
UofL released a statement in response to the rally saying they "firmly believe that you cannot deliver a high-quality university education without a diverse classroom and campus, inclusive of all demographics, identities and ideologies."
"Only in such circumstances and with such experiences will our students be prepared to foster their own and others' excellence in a diverse global economy."
Read UofL's full statement here:
As a leading R-1 national university, the University of Louisville is unwavering in its commitment to excellence in its instructional and research endeavors. This commitment to academic excellence has, as one of its requisite core pillars, an equally unwavering commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
As stated in President Schatzel’s message to campus earlier this semester -- and it bears repeating -- we firmly believe that you cannot deliver a high-quality university education without a diverse classroom and campus, inclusive of all demographics, identities and ideologies. Only in such circumstances and with such experiences will our students be prepared to foster their own and others’ excellence in a diverse global economy. In short, a diverse and inclusive campus better prepares our students to lead.
We know that ability and ambition is present in all communities throughout Kentucky. But we also know that access to higher education and foundations supportive of student success are not found equally within all those communities. It is our priority, as a national research university and a leader in Kentucky’s higher education sector, to provide a campus that fully supports and holds as a top priority inclusive student success – that is for ALL students, again inclusive of all demographics, identities and ideologies – to successfully complete their degrees.
In keeping with that priority, we remain committed to a relentless pursuit of a campus that removes barriers to access and supports completion of their degrees for ALL our students – inclusive of all races, religions, ethnicities, ages, ideologies and abilities – as well as veterans, LGBTQIA+, refugees, Pell-eligible, first generation, rural, adult learners and others.
This pursuit requires that we provide, as a fundamental and essential obligation of our university, our full support for our faculty and staff as they create culturally and intellectually challenging environments for teaching, learning and research that prepare our students for success as Kentucky’s next generation of health care professionals, writers, engineers, entrepreneurs, scientists, musicians, first responders, teachers, as well as a host of other fields.
Toward that end and in agreement with Council on Postsecondary Education President Aaron Thompson and other Kentucky higher education leaders, we cannot, without equivocation, support any legislation that limits the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in support of our highest priority – success for ALL University of Louisville students by completing their degrees.
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