Wyoming Governor Signs Anti-DEI Law Restricting Curriculum

Wyoming now has an anti–diversity, equity and inclusion law that bans community colleges and the University of Wyoming, the state’s only public university, from requiring “instruction promoting institutional discrimination.”

House Bill 147/Enrolled Act 67, which Republican governor Mark Gordon signed this month, defines institutional discrimination as any one of a broad list of concepts similar to the “divisive concepts” Donald Trump targeted in an executive order during his first presidential term. Anti-DEI bills in other states have also included lists of verboten concepts.

According to Wyoming’s list, public higher education institutions can no longer require instruction promoting the idea “that meritocracy or certain traits including a hard work ethic are racist or sexist.” They also can’t require instruction that promotes the assigning of fault “to members of a race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity or national origin” based on those demographic labels, or the idea that anyone should accept a sense of guilt or needing to apologize on the basis of those labels.

The law’s provisions only take up about three pages. The legislation also says colleges and universities can’t engage in any DEI activity or policy, defined in the law as one “that promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals or classifies individuals” based on those demographic labels. The law exempts activities and policies regarding federally recognized Indian tribes and their citizens.

In a news release, PEN America said the new law censors college classroom teaching and prohibits “religious affinity groups, programming for international students, single-sex dormitories on college campuses, any middle school or high school girls’ sports team, or even a program supporting veterans who are fathers.”

A spokesperson for Gordon said in an email that “the governor believes HB 147 contains definitions and balanced restrictions that ensure accountability without creating unnecessary legal ambiguities or unintended consequences.”