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a group of students and professors at public universities Alabama are asking the appeals court to block a state law that bans diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in public schools and prohibits support for what republican Lawmakers slammed what they termed “divisive concepts” related to race and gender.
The Alabama measure, which takes effect in October 2024, is part of a wave of proposals from Republican lawmakers across the country targeting DEI programs on college campuses.
State law prohibits public schools and universities from using state funds for any program or curriculum that supports “divisive concepts” related to race, religion, gender identity, and religion. Trainers are also prohibited from “encouraging” a person to feel guilt because of those identities.
U.S. District Judge David Proctor allowed the law to remain in place, writing that a professor’s academic freedom does not override a public university’s decisions about the content of classroom instruction.
The law “does not prevent all teaching or discussion of these concepts from campus or, for that matter, even from the classroom,” Proctor wrote. “In contrast, it explicitly permits classroom instruction that includes ‘discussion’ of the listed concepts, as long as ‘the instruction is delivered purposefully without support of the concepts.'”
This appeal has come after the July order Department of Justice It outlines similar needed changes at public school campuses across the country. In 2025, student affinity groups have closed their doors, professors have been furloughed, Black Student publications have closed and curricula have changed.
Antonio Ingram, an attorney for the plaintiffs’ legal defense fund, said in an interview that the law does not clearly outline what an endorsement includes, leaving professors vulnerable to frivolous scrutiny and limiting their ability to submit verified research.
“Truth becomes what the state says, versus what independent researchers and theorists and academics have spent decades crafting,” Ingram said.
If allowed to stand, Ingram said, the law “turns universities into mouthpieces for the state that can be used for propaganda, that can be used for things that are not accurate and empirically based.”
Dana Patton, a litigator who teaches political science University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, said in an interview that the state law prompted him to change the curriculum he has taught for decades.
“We feel very constrained by the ambiguity of the law,” Patton said, “because some students may misinterpret a text to support a certain point of view.”
Last year, five students complained that the curriculum of the interdisciplinary honors program run by Patton was contrary to the law. Patton insists that she has always taken measures to ensure that a wide range of viewpoints are represented – but this has not diminished her fears. He has since removed some material from his curriculum.
“It’s safer not to teach certain things and avoid potential consequences or complaints being filed,” Patton said.