Students must remember who hurt, helped and stayed silent during the 2024 DEI battle

One of the most important pieces written on the 2024 anti-diversity movement in Kentucky was penned by independent student newspaper editors from the state’s seven public universities. They opined, “University officials have been hesitant to take a stand, which is why we felt we must.” They were right to do so and should be commended. In the aftermath of Kentucky’s rapacious 2024 legislative session, these brave young writers and their allies should remember a few things.

They should remember this was never about DEI. It was really about retrograde anti-Black racism. They should remember principled politicians like Tina Bojanowski, Josie Raymond and others feverishly fought against it. They should not forget that professional writers like Linda Blackford and Joe Gerth relentlessly accentuated contradictions and pushed for honesty and decency with their brave columns. They should remember Marc Murphy told more truth about this issue with his powerful cartoons than most people could with words. Urban League President Lyndon Pryor and public school administrator John Marshall were warriors and did us all proud.

On the other side, students should be clear that politicians Mike Wilson, Jennifer Decker and the 92 other Republicans who voted in favor of the mean-spirited, racially retrograde bills they sponsored in the state Senate and House are the closest things we have to white citizens’ councilors in the 21^st century. And it all happened on the watches of Republican leaders Robert Stivers and David Osbourne. None of them should be forgotten or forgiven.  

University presidents didn’t speak out against anti-DEI Bill

The students rightfully named Kentucky’s public university presidents who failed us all when they wrote, “Only one university president, Eli Capilouto of the University of Kentucky, has spoken out against the bills.” Murray State’s Bob Jackson, Louisville’s Kim Schatzel, Western Kentucky’s Timothy Caboni, and Northern Kentucky’s Cady Short-Thompson did little more than release less than convincing statements. Eastern Kentucky’s David T. McFaddin, Morehead State’s Jay Morgan, and even Kentucky State’s Koffi C. Akakpo, president of the state’s only public HBCU, said nothing at all.

Kentucky’s private school presidents should not be allowed to hide or let off the hook, either. Only Simmons College of Kentucky’s Kevin Cosby spoke out. Presidents like Bellarmine’s Susan Donovan, Transylvania’s Brien Lewis, Centre’s Milton Moreland and others didn’t say a word. 

Diversity is not going away. DEI is in the best interest of every single student.

These presidents did not speak out because they clearly were not caring or committed enough to do so. Their advisors probably told them they could ignore this instance of Black suffering just as their public university counterparts were doing and get away with it. They probably told them they should remain quiet because no one really cared or was paying attention anyway. They were wrong. People were paying attention and will remember. In the end, their silence was tantamount to agreement. Shame on these presidents and their advisors for such a moral failure.

By choosing the path of least resistance Kentucky’s college and university presidents not only showed a failure of leadership, they also ignored the guiding words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.”

Kentucky’s public and private university presidents who refused to speak did not do right. And their silence in the face of evil places them on the wrong side of history. We need them to do better.

Gerth: Good riddance to the Kentucky legislature and its shameless Republican power grab

Anti-DEI bills only failed because Republicans couldn’t agree

Finally, students must remember this was a battle won, not a war. Victory came this time around only because Republicans couldn’t agree on how far their devilishness should go. The same thing happened in Alabama last year, only to have Republicans return this cycle and pass a mind-blowingly backwards anti-diversity law. Students who know history will know Gov. Kay Ivey did her best to channel former Alabama Gov. George Wallace and stand in the proverbial modern schoolhouse door to prevent Black access and progress when she happily affixed her name to this backwardness.

Like their Alabama confederates, Kentucky’s racially retrograde politicians who are hellbent on pushing the state into the past will return from their temporary retreat to continue their war on equality, justice, and democracy next year. We can only hope college and university presidents will respond differently when they do.

We don’t need these presidents to simply change diversity position names at their schools and fall back on the tired excuse that they said little to nothing publicly but were “working behind the scenes.” That’s problematic. We need them to stand before us and admit they were wrong. We need them to find their moral compasses and do what is right. We need them to be stronger, more communicative and caring, and actually lead. And we must embrace each and every one of them who chooses a more just path as we move forward, no matter how terribly they failed us this time around. We must forgive and support them if they change because it’s the right thing to do.           

Dr. Ricky L. Jones is the Baldwin-King Scholar-in-Residence at the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute and Professor of Pan-African Studies, University of Louisville. His column appears bi-weekly in the Courier-Journal. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, and X.