Idaho lawmakers are looking to double down with the Idaho State Board of Education’s recent decision to ban diversity, equity and inclusion services in higher education with a new bill.
This legislation would prohibit DEI courses from being required for any degree, unless they are for a degree path that is primarily focused on racial, ethnic or gender studies. It would not ban DEI discussions all together, though it would put restrictions on the topics.
The one to suggest this was Republican Senator Ben Toews of Coeur d’Alene. He presented the draft on Jan. 9 and has since received mixed reactions towards it. In his Statement of Purpose, Toews describes what he wants the bill to affect.
“It prohibits DEI-based discrimination in admission and hiring, DEI-related employee incentives, DEI offices and officer positions, diversity training, and bias reporting systems. Students also may not be forced to enroll in a course designed and implemented with DEI principles unless their chosen course of study is based on these concepts.”
Toews did not respond to The Argonaut for comment, but his ideas and opinions can be seen in the meeting videos posted by the Idaho Legislature.
Opposing the idea is lone Democrat Melissa Wintrow, the state Senate Minority Leader and the only one to vote no on the proposition.
Though Wintrow has many fears about this bill coming to fruition, her most pressing issue is the First Amendment breach it would cause.
“[Toews] is saying you can’t require people to learn certain things but you can require them to learn others, and that’s a First Amendment violation,” Wintrow said to the Argonaut. “The government has picked concepts, ideas and theories that they say you may not do training on. And that’s a violation. That’s wrong.”
While the bill has not been passed yet, Wintrow is confident that it will.
In the Jan. 9 Idaho Legislature meeting, Toews reaffirms that free speech on the topics will still be allowed as well as conversations, but required courses on that content will not. He claims it will not be an infringement on rights.
“It’s important that we are not restricting any form of speech in this legislation. The goal is to make sure that all speech is allowed. That’s based on state and federal law,” Toews said.
In an article by the Boise Weekly, Toews is cited having shared a story about the experience of a conservative student in his daughter’s university class. The student spoke of feeling uncomfortable and unwelcome in a course because of her own political beliefs.
When asked about this, Wintrow was disappointed by both the story and the use of it in context. She expressed to Toews how, as the Senate Minority Leader, she feels uncomfortable in legislation every day.
“College education – any education – is about cognitive dissonance. It’s about discomfort, so we can learn,” Wintrow said.