Red State Lawmakers Are Now Deciding What Classes You Must Take to Graduate
At least 12 states with DEI bans are now targeting gen ed requirements to push diversity courses out of public university graduation checklists — and the Manhattan Institute has published a blueprint for how to do it.
Republican state legislators are rewriting general education requirements at public universities, mandating courses on the Constitution, American history, and Western civilization while pushing diversity-focused courses out of graduation requirements. Ohio's Senate Bill 1, for example, now requires all bachelor's degree seekers to pass an 'American civic literacy' course — and at least 12 states with DEI bans are moving to use gen ed reform as the next lever, since curriculum control is harder for courts to block on First Amendment grounds. Conservatives are also pushing to hand gen ed course approval to state-created civics centers rather than faculty, shifting real power over what you learn away from academic departments. If you're enrolled at a public university in a red state — or planning to be — your graduation requirements may look different than they did a few years ago, and more changes are likely before you finish your degree.
This issue draws on reporting and data from Inside Higher Ed.