Jerell Blakeley — director of government, community, and racial and social justice for the Indiana State Teachers Association — testifies in committee on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. Photo by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

By Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — For four hours on Wednesday, Jan. 22, and with tempers flaring throughout, Indiana lawmakers and plenty of constituents debated whether diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI efforts combat or constitute discrimination.

Senate Bill 235 describes DEI as dealing with race, ethnicity or sex — and defines it as any effort by state agencies to influence staff composition, promote differential treatment, promulgate related policies or training, or take official positions containing terms from a list of 15 banned phrases.

It would bar agencies from funding DEI offices or employees and from bestowing contracts or grants on entities that mandate DEI training — and lets Indiana’s attorney general sue for violations.

Sen. Tyler Johnson, R-Leo. Photo from Indiana Senate Republicans.

Heather Akou, an Indiana University fashion design professor representing the University Alliance for Racial Justice, testified that the list curtails free speech and urged lawmakers to strike it. She said some of the terms have innocuous meanings, like “allyship,” which she defined as “looking out for the rights and needs of a group you do not personally belong to.”

Other phrases include intersectionality, disparate impact and social justice.

The legislation also takes aim at higher education: banning DEI offices, employees, internal audits and consultant use. The attorney general could sue for up to $250,000 per violation.

The proposal contains health education provisions adding state oversight to academic standards, mandating letter grades and banning pass-fail grading in required courses, although author Sen. Tyler Johnson, R-Leo, admitted the language needed work. Boards regulating health profession licensing also wouldn’t be able to use DEI in license requirements or decisions.

Dr. Allon Friedman, an IU Medicine School professor and dialysis unit director, declared that DEI has inflicted “enormous” damage on the medical profession and should be “expunged.”

He said the values cause medical professionals to dehumanize patients by treating them as “belonging either to an oppressor or oppressed class,” undermine excellence in favor of mediocrity and encourage a “hostile mindset and grievance-based mentality.”

Ahead of testimony, the Senate Judiciary Committee removed language allowing citizens to sue.

The panel advanced the legislation in an 8-2 vote along party lines. It next heads to the Senate floor for further amendments.

Witnesses also flocked to Senate Bill 289, which cracks down on DEI in K-12 schools.

It would require schools, local governments and state agencies to post related training and curricular materials and bar them from promoting “stereotypes.” It would also ban them from requiring students and employees to adhere to DEI concepts or spend public funds on DEI consultants or trainers.

Multiple opponents harkened back to a century ago, when the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan controlled Indiana’s Statehouse.

Sen. Brett Clark, R-Avon, speaks in committee on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. Photo by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

“DEI came in the aftermath of civil rights legislation,” said Jerell Blakeley, representing the Indiana State Teachers Association. He said they were “hallmark principles to ensure that our country did not revert into policies that led to terrible things.”

Kileen Lindgren, the legal policy manager for the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation, countered that the legislation prevents discrimination and increases transparency.

The bill was moved in a 7-3 vote, with Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange, joining Democrats in opposition.

The committee also advanced legislation making it easier for property owners to rid their holdings of squatters, after more than an hour of debate.

Advocates said the legal system applies landlord-tenant law to ill-effect, and that it’s too hard for owners to regain control of their properties. Opponents feared abusive landlords could use Senate Bill 157‘s provisions to evict tenants with informal or unwritten living agreements, and suggested alternative legal mechanisms.

It moved on an 8-2 vote.