Kentucky’s longest serving Black senator filed 15 floor amendments on a bill that would end all diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at public universities and colleges. He called two of them during Wednesday's debate on the Senate floor. Both failed.

A staunch advocate for diversity and inclusion, Democratic Sen. Gerald Neal of Louisville said the bill ignores the reality of American society. He talked through the history of Black people in the country and cautioned those who would invoke the words of Martin Luthor King Jr. while ignoring systemic racism.

“The past is what we are now. We didn't come out of a puff of air. We were developed and we evolved, and we had strengths and weaknesses that grew out of those frameworks and behaviors, some of which still persist today,” Neal said. “And yet, as we profess to lift everyone, we won't acknowledge that.”

The bill passed the Senate on a largely party-line vote, with one Democrat joining Republicans as it swept through the chamber. If the House approves a single change — a title amendment — the bill will head to the governor's desk.

House Bill 4's DEI ban includes prohibitions against race, sex or religion-based scholarships, programs that give differential treatment based on those characteristics, and required or incentivized DEI training. It would eliminate all diversity and inclusion offices and officers within public colleges.

Neal was one of several Democrats who spoke passionately in opposition to the legislation that would also ban all bias investigations on campuses. Republican lawmakers who support the legislation say the bill deals with “unconstitutional” behavior and eliminates discriminatory programs.

In describing why he supports the legislation, GOP Sen. Stephen West from Paris talked about wanting his own son to go to college on an “equal playing field.” He said his son should not be made to feel responsible for the sins of the past.

“He's responsible for himself, and should not be made to feel less than and this applies to every student, no matter what your "race, creed, national origin, sex," West said. “Everyone that goes to the doors of our universities should be and are equal when it comes to opportunities afforded by our taxpayer funded college system.”

HB 4 does many things in its 43 pages, including telling the Council for Postsecondary Education that it must eliminate any degree or certificate program that requires courses or training designed to “indoctrinate” students with a “discriminatory concept,” as defined by the bill. It also requires all postsecondary institutions adopt a policy of “viewpoint neutrality.” Read a list of the bill’s many provisions here.

The bill states that it is not intended to infringe on academic freedom or course content. At the same time, it also requires that no programs require courses that “indoctrinate” students with “discriminatory concepts,” which are broadly defined as a concept that “justifies or promotes differential treatment or benefits conferred to individuals on the basis of religion, race, sex, color, or national origin.”

GOP Sen. Donald Douglas, the first Black Republican elected to the Kentucky Senate, supported the legislation and spoke in contrast to Neal’s description of Black Americans’ struggle for equal rights.

Douglas, from Nicholasville, said slavery ended in 1805, 30 years after the U.S. gained independence from England. He bases that on the date when America banned the international slave trade.

Slavery and the domestic slave trade actually continued domestically in the U.S. throughout the Civil War. Slavery was abolished formally 89 years after independence with the adoption of the 13th Amendment, but it would not be for an additional century that Black Americans would be afforded rights equal to that of white Americans throughout the country.

Douglas said diversity, equity and inclusion sets kids up for failure and teaches them to blame others for their failings.

“It creates a false sense of accomplishment,” Douglas said. “Then we get out into the real world. Our kids get out into the real world, and they're confused because things aren't like they were at school. They have a sense of failure.”

He said DEI is a good idea when it's voluntary, but bad when it's “forced.” The legislation does not allow for any resources at public colleges to be spent on diversity and inclusion efforts, whether those initiatives are voluntary or not.

HB 4 has frequently been presented as a means to deal with what Republicans describe as “unconstitutional” initiatives that favor some students over others, with both sponsor Rep. Jennifer Decker and Sen. West stating it is a response to Student for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which specifically applied to race-based admissions.

Sen. Keturah Herron also proposed a floor amendment that she said would ensure the legislation truly applied a level playing field by ensuring that region of birth and profession also could not be used as criteria for differential treatment. It too failed. She said that proved legislators recognized that differences of birth, of circumstance, do matter.

Herron discussed her own experiences with racism, recounting vitriol and racial slurs she was subjected to a high school student in a soccer regional championship game. She said she grew up hearing stories of the racial discrimination her mother experienced, and wondered if the people who tormented her mother taught the same cruelty to their own children.

“This is not about the things that happened in the past. This is about things that are happening today,” Herron said.

Sen. Karen Berg, a Democrat from Louisville, addressed another element of the bill — prohibitions on policies that specifically help women and girls in public universities and colleges. Berg said she faced extreme sex discrimination, including as a married pregnant woman, when she was in medical school at the University of Louisville. She said the bill’s prohibitions on DEI programs designed to protect and uplift women specifically is a step in the wrong direction.

“We have a system that has historically been controlled by white men. They didn't make room for the women. They haven't made room for the people they don't want in their world,” Berg said. “Those of us who have gotten where I have gotten have fought every day to be treated with respect.”

There are several that still prioritize women as scholarship recipients. HB 4 would ban the creation of such scholarships within public colleges moving forward, but would allow the existing ones to play out with their current funds — however, once they’re gone, they’re gone.

Due to a likely open meeting law violation earlier in the process, the bill will need to return to the state House for concurrence, according to GOP leadership, before heading to the governor’s desk.

On the Senate floor, West moved to add a title amendment, changing the name to the one already listed on the bill. That’s because of an alleged violation of open records law in the House committee where the Republican chair asked state police to clear the room and adjourned the meeting, and then proceeded to conduct business and take a vote to add the title amendment anyways.

Gov. Andy Beshear has previously said he strongly supports diversity in the state. At a Black History Month celebration at the State Capitol last month, Beshear said, “Diversity will always be an asset, never a detriment, and we should celebrate it here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.” If the House concurs with the bill, it will head to Beshear next for him to either sign, veto or let it become law without his signature.

State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.