A timeline of recent DEI legislation in Idaho
DEI, or Diversity Equity and Inclusion policy has been hotly debated not only in Idaho but across the nation. While DEI is incredibly nuanced, Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines DEI practices as policies that seek to establish a “level-as-possible playing field” by shining a light on bias and attempting to amplify the voices of individuals in marginalized communities.
On Oct. 23, 2024, Idaho legislators held a meeting regarding DEI at the Idaho State Capitol. The meeting occurred after legislators killed resolution SCR134 last session which aimed to eliminate the use of state-appropriated funds for any clubs, student activities or organizations with DEI or social justice ideology on Idaho college campuses.
Many of the senators asked for further research to be conducted, with Senator Wintrow asking why anti-DEI legislation was seen consistently starting in 2020. Wintrow also called for a clear definition of “social justice ideology”.
On March 21, 2024, Senate Bill 1274 was signed into law by Governor Brad Little. The bill’s purpose stated that “hiring and admissions decisions must be made on merit” and hiring choices by colleges and state agencies can not require applicants to submit a diversity statement.
On Feb. 12, 2024, Senate Bill 1357, sponsored by Brian Lenney and Scott Herndon stated its intent to prevent public colleges from “inclusion bureaucracies,” and to bar using public funds for any DEI offices or employees.
DEI in education
Both social workers and the College of Social Work at Boise State would be greatly impacted by anti-DEI policy. Social Work features a code of ethics with social justice as one of its six principles.
These policies could censor discussion surrounding gender, sexual orientation and race, and as Matthew Arrojas explains in his article, anti-DEI policy could cause social work programs to lose their accreditation.
Zoe Tanner, a senior majoring in Social Work worries about anti-DEI initiatives impacting training for social workers.
“A big part of the anti-DEI initiatives would manifest into limits on education and training for social workers,” Tanner said. “A huge part of the training programs that social work students go through, and a big prioritization is cultural competency. To provide the best services to the diverse clients that we’re going to work with, we’re going to need to have an education on their culture and learn sensitivity and how to cater to their unique needs.”
Tanner said Critical Race Theory is an example of a course that is important to the social work major that has been eliminated at the college level.
“Anti-DEI could show a reduction in curriculum that would impact social workers’ ability to engage effectively,” Tanner said.
Tanner highlighted the internal conflict between personal values, principles of social work and legal policy.
“With some anti-DEI policy — that could bring up some ethical conflicts because on the one hand, we have this legally enforceable agency policy that could happen, and then feeling conflicted between ‘this is my code of ethics and these are the values of social work that I hold really strongly … But my agency is limiting some of the things I can do to provide this client with the best practice.’”
Grace, a 2023 graduate from Boise State and former ASBSU Vice President of Inclusive Excellence from 2021 through 2022 shared her experience regarding DEI during her time with ASBSU via email with The Arbiter.
“This was between the year council members faced doxxing and death threats, and the year the Inclusive Excellence Student Council was dissolved,” Grace said. “I learned that most of the people who spoke against the values in DEI were actually trying to speak against the perceived entitlement it gave to marginalized students.”
“This perceived entitlement represents a dangerous misunderstanding of DEI. Upholding diversity, inclusion and equity doesn’t mean people get special treatment,” Grace said. “That misconception comes from pity — marginalized communities don’t need pity. DEI helps people attain the resources they need to better navigate and thrive in this society. It removes barriers, not by handing someone a step ladder but by knocking them down for everyone.”
Michael Kreiter, a Sociology professor, said many people underestimate the value of humanities degrees.
“Sociology, [and] similar disciplines like English … other social sciences and humanities have constantly been denigrated in the last couple decades as in [being called] a worthless degree, even though evidence suggests otherwise,” Kreiter said.
Cutting introduction courses in sociology, an aim of anti-DEI legislation, would “gut” the department Kreiter said.
“I think it’s a detriment to all students if they miss out on opportunities like this,” Kreiter said. “Some of this anti-DEI stuff — they’re using this claim that they don’t want education to be political. However, it’s inherently political. Every choice we make about education is political.”
Kreiter explained that choosing not to educate students on the sociological context of the world around them is a political decision as well.
“To say that students don’t need to have some kind of education about how to be an engaged citizen and understand their social world … [that] they only need to know how to apply skill-based knowledge without critical thinking — that’s a political choice to set them [students] up to be exploited in a future labor market, instead of having the voice and the critical imagination to imagine a completely different world.”
“We need the humanities,” Kreiter said. “We need social sciences so that students can see that there are different ways of thinking about their own existence in their own world, so they can have a say in their world. Instead of learning how to continue [in] the world that exists and hopefully make it to be someone successful in that world.”
As far as the future of DEI in Idaho, Krieter believes the language may shift or change.
“I think the language itself is going to fade away. We had those cultural movements where we got civil rights legislation, we got executive orders for affirmative action. We allegedly allow women to work for equal pay, though we still don’t as a society, but some of that language was affirmative action, and then that deliberately got targeted,” Krieter said. “For a while, the sentiment was [that] you couldn’t correct these structural problems at an individual level, which is partly true, but there’s a benefit for students, including affluent white students, to go to a university that has a more diverse student body.”
Krieter explained that terminology changes over time as a result of social factors.
“Diversity was really … watered down language from affirmative action, which is watered down from anti-racism. There’s probably going to be new terminology, and it’s probably going to be more watered down until finally, people start to recognize and there’s a critical mass that we have been going in the wrong direction for decades, pretending that we’ve solved it decades ago when we haven’t actually done anything,” Krieter said.
Combating misinformation on DEI policy
Rebecca De Leon, the communications director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said one of the biggest barriers around DEI is misinformation.
“One of my biggest challenges here at the ACLU when it comes to anti-DEI Legislation, is the misinformation and the disinformation that spreads so rapidly across social media platforms and by word of mouth,” De Leon said. “It is very difficult for us to combat that and explain to people what DEI is, why it’s needed, and to explain to people how it really ultimately boils down to an issue of violating people’s first amendment rights.”
De Leon highlighted the importance of having educators involved in determining curriculum.
“We do not want people outside of academia to be the ones dictating curriculum and what teachers can and cannot say in their classrooms,” De Leon said. “That is a violation of their First Amendment right.”
“The ACLU needs to restrategize how we interact with legislation and public information because there are so many attacks on people’s civil liberties and individual rights that we simply do not have the capacity to cover them all,” De Leon said. “We are currently trying to figure out how we can refocus our resources so we can make the biggest impact where it is most needed.”
Senator Wintrow felt that the DEI committee hearing at the Idaho Capitol building on Oct. 23 left something to be desired as far as vocabulary goes.
“I said, ‘Are you doing a word search? Searching for the word diversity or equity or inclusion, and then that’s what is popping up?’ I don’t think they have a clear definition,” Wintrow said. “We’re bordering on censorship and content. What is it at the heart of this group? What are we after? What does diversity, equity [and] inclusion mean? The question for the group [committee] is really, what at its core is troubling you?”
Wintrow went into detail about the culture of racism in America, noting how the murder of George Floyd in 2020 forced many white Americans to acknowledge racism as a systemic issue rather than an isolated act of violence.
“White folks in particular, finally were acknowledging that racism wasn’t just an act of individual meanness — that certainly the white police officer killing a black man was racist, but also drawing attention to a culture in that police force that existed. A culture that existed surrounding them in white America allowed for the officer to do it,” Wintrow said. “We are living in a time where racism has been incorporated not only into law but into our cultural practices, policy and our operation.”
Co-chairs brought up concerns during the committee meeting that DEI resource centers would change their name or language but continue their practices. Wintrow said she felt unnerved by this line of conversation.
“Their goal, through their questioning, was to fetter this out … Sort of like there’s no
hiding, we will find you — that was deeply disturbing. I felt like I was on the McCarthy trials,” Wintrow said. “Out of fear of losing what they see as their way of life, is to capitalize on that fear with others. What I feel so much sadness about is that [so] much of this is about fear of progress — and it’s an irrational fear. There is enough to go around, and the fear comes from a place of scarcity instead of plenty, and we know in the United States there’s plenty.”
Wintrow pointed out that businesses across the country have continued to implement DEI initiatives in the workforce.
“There have been business[es] and research to delineate the benefits of creating environments where everybody feels welcome, where people have equitable inclusion,” Wintrow said. “It’s not only the right thing to do, but people make money.”
“People have to look at history. Every bit of time there’s been social progress to make a change, there’s backlash every time, and we’re in that backlash,” Wintrow said. “It’s important to stay steady [and] fill your heart with peace and compassion. Try, no matter what, to see people with that lens of humanness.”
Conversation around DEI and its practices has existed since the Civil Rights Movement (or even earlier) but it’s so much more than simply an acronym. Idaho has an opportunity to listen to the perspectives of community members and programs that utilize DEI and ultimately establish environments that prioritize equity and inclusive practices for all.
