‘DEI’ Targeted in Med Schools, State Contracts

The Republican-controlled Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee on Tuesday approved a measure that targets diversity, equity, and inclusion, or “DEI,” efforts at medical schools and in state-agency contracts.

The bill (SB 1710), filed by Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-Indian Rocks Beach, would prohibit money going to DEI offices or officers and would require “specific science focused standardized tests for admissions into certain medical institutions of higher education.” The bill, which the committee approved in a 6-2 vote, also would require recipients of state contracts and grants to certify to the state chief financial officer that they won’t use the money on DEI efforts.

The bill defines DEI as “any effort to manipulate or otherwise influence the composition of employees with reference to race, sex, color, or ethnicity, other than ensuring colorblind and race-neutral hiring in accordance with state and federal antidiscrimination” laws.

“What I do know is I think that these DEI programs, over time, have just proven to be ineffective. I think they’ve been proven to have the opposite effect of what they were intended,” DiCeglie said. “And I think that we have a situation, quite frankly, where it’s become unfair for an individual who is looking to be judged on a specific skill set or personal ability.” Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, said the bill conflates DEI hiring with state agency actions. “We have state agencies that fund public universities. We have a public university that is a historically Black college (Florida A&M University) that is not colorblind when it comes to acceptances and what they chose to study and their faculty,” Polsky said. “How is that going to be allowable from the (state university system’s) Board of Governors to fund a school like that under these policies?