Kentucky’s legislative session took a hard turn this summer. Not to audit overspending, but to purge diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from our campuses. HB 4, passed this year, was sold as a cost-cutting, viewpoint-neutral reform. But when state officials leaned on universities about DEI and courses like UK’s Gender & Women’s Studies, the conversation suddenly shifted from policy to political fear-mongering. DEI Didn’t Cost the State Much But They Still Targeted It Let’s get something straight: this wasn’t about saving money. At the July 15 hearing , representatives from Kentucky’s public universities reported how much money was "saved" by complying with HB 4’s DEI restrictions, and the numbers are laughable. Western Kentucky University reported just $13,000 in savings. The Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) redirected about $2.5 million (>1% of the total budget) from DEI programs to generalized student support. Not cut, just reallocated. ...

At a July 15 legislative committee hearing in Frankfort, Rep. Shane Baker, who once pushed to return the Ten Commandments to Kentucky’s Capitol, decided to interrogate a university course on Black Lives Matter, gender and women’s studies. He flat-out demanded to know why our tax dollars are funding lessons on equality and justice . Smokescreen of "Accountability" Rep. Shane Baker wants you to believe he’s just being a good steward of your tax dollars. That’s the role he plays in committee hearings, calmly asking bureaucrats why the University of Kentucky would dare offer courses that explore systemic inequality and gender justice. But don’t let the tone fool you. This isn’t budget oversight. It’s a censorship campaign wearing a fiscal mask. In the July 15 hearing, Baker singled out a UK course titled “Gender and Women’s Studies in the U.S.: Black Lives Matter.” He read the course description aloud to the committee with a tone of suspicion, pausing after this line: “The 14th...