Oklahoma bans DEI requirements at public colleges and universities, requires cuts to 'non-critical personnel'

Oklahoma colleges will be required to review their DEI programs to “eliminate and dismiss non-critical personnel” per a new executive order from Governor Kevin Sitt.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt announced the mandate Wednesday, citing a need to spend more money on preparing young Oklahomans for the workforce, and less on “six-figure salaries to DEI staff.”

“We want to make sure we don’t lie to the next generation. You’re gonna have to work hard, life is not always fair,” said Stitt. “With my executive order we’re gonna take politics out of education and let’s just go help kids.”

[RELATED: Oklahoma official demands to know ‘every dollar’ public universities spend on DEI]

The order is branded as an anti-discrimination measure, and prohibits state colleges and other institutions from using state funds, property, or resources to engage in common DEI practices, like requiring “any person” to participate in training or education sessions that “grants preferences based on one person’s particular race, color, sex, ethnicity, or national origin over another’s,” or requiring anybody proclaim “any particular political, philosophical, religious, or other ideological viewpoint.”

In 2020, Campus Reform revealed the contents of a mandatory DEI training for “all students, faculty, and staff” at the University of Oklahoma. The training asserted that “equality isn’t actually fair” and that “Equity means fairness.” It also discouraged trainees from using the phrase “All lives matter.”

In 2021, Campus Reform reported the University of Oklahoma’s refusal to revise a mandatory training that “required trainees to acknowledge their agreements with the university’s approved political viewpoints in order to complete the requirement,” according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Specifically, the virtual training required students to accept the premise of transgender ideology in order to complete the session. 

[RELATED: Oklahoma joins states requiring schools to report DEI spending]

FIRE sent a letter to the university advising that it revise its training, given that it “requires its participants to affirm to the university what response to questions of social and political concerns are correct according to the university’s administration.”

The new order also specifically bans the requirement of DEI statements in job applications and prohibits universities from requiring anybody to “disclose their pronouns.”

“In Oklahoma, we’re going to encourage equal opportunity, rather than promising equal outcomes,” said Stitt. “Encouraging our workforce, economy, and education systems to flourish means shifting focus away from exclusivity and discrimination, and toward opportunity and merit. We’re taking politics out of education and focusing on preparing students for the workforce.”