Wisconsin voters will get to decide whether to amend their state constitution to ban Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in government entities.
Campus Reform reported that the anti-DEI initiative will be on the ballot in November. If voters choose to do the right thing, their Democratic governor can’t stop it.
DEI is not inclusive in any sense of the word. It excludes classes of people based on immutable characteristics like race and sex.
Campus Reform noted that some state governments try to get around bans on racial discrimination.
For example, voters in California in 1996 passed the California Civil Rights Initiative, which amended the state constitution to ban racial preferences in admissions. But colleges and universities in California continued to discriminate based on race through “holistic” admissions.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 finally banned racial preferences in colleges and university admissions, contending that such policies violate the Equal Protection Clause. A group called Students Against Racial Discrimination sued the University of California in 2025 over its continued use of race-based admissions, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling.
If voters in Wisconsin ban DEI, the law must close the loopholes. From Campus Reform:
“A weak DEI ban is worse than no DEI ban because it accomplishes nothing yet creates a false sense of security,” Accuracy in Media president Adam Guillette said in a statement to Campus Reform. “America’s universities require radical reform, and rooting out identity politics is a very important first step.”
“For any DEI ban to be worthwhile, it must include a reporting mechanism, legal consequences for breaking the law, and a strict prohibition on promoting identity politics,” Guillette argued.
It’s trite, but it’s true: the only way to stop racial discrimination is to stop discriminating based on race.
Photo credit: lettawren (Creative Commons) – Some rights reserved
