Op-Ed: Proposed DEI Legislation Strengthens Texas Campuses, Including NCAA Athletics Programs

This article originally appeared in Houston Chronicle on May 10, 2023

This week, the Texas House will consider H.B. 5127, an important bill designed to restore norms of free inquiry, viewpoint diversity, merit-based hiring, and civil deliberation at Texas’s public universities. It does so by restricting highly divisive “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) efforts on public campuses, including requiring diversity statements in hiring decisions, mandated DEI trainings, and sprawling DEI offices that push a one-sided political ideology.  

The DEI-administrative complex poisoning Texas campuses is a multi-million-dollar enterprise. So, it is no surprise that DEI activists and their political allies are pushing back.  

One of their more creative arguments is that the bill raises compliance issues under NCAA Division I institutional eligibility requirements, which they claim would make it impossible for Texas universities to meet NCAA standards if H.B. 5127 goes into effect. This is a stretch, at best. 

The NCAA’s Constitution does say that “member institutions shall create diverse and inclusive environments and shall provide… an atmosphere of respect for and sensitivity to the dignity of every person,” and that schools must appoint an “Athletics Diversity Designee.” But the NCAA does not specify that member colleges must adopt the divisive and politicized understanding of DEI that H.B. 5127 would eject from Texas campuses. 

By eliminating race exclusionary groups, spaces and trainings, H.B. 5127 actually advances the NCAA’s goal, respect for the dignity of every person. Research has shown that DEI’s race-essentializing programs and policies deepen stereotypes and alienate students. A recent study on the diversity apparatus at 65 U.S. universities found that “Student reports on campus climate are no better — and often worse, especially for minority students — at universities with larger DEI staff levels.” 

Likewise, a report tracing the DEI take over at Texas A&M found that, as the college doubled down on DEI programming between 2015 and 2019, African American students’ sense of “belonging” on campus fell precipitously from 82% to 55%. 

That is because DEI is really about division and indoctrination. It will be easier to create a truly inclusive community for student athletes at universities that do not urge students to judge everything — their peers, society, even themselves — first and foremost based on skin color. 

The NCAA’s “Framework” for the “self-directed DEI review[s]” universities must complete once every four years makes clear they are flexible self-studies. The NCAA explicitly recognizes that “the substance of each review will vary by school, conference, public/private and other affiliations, region and state.” And it emphasizes that the “legislated review is not subject to formal NCAA assessment or approval, and it is not required that a member use any specific format to complete a review.” 

The “sample framework” the NCAA provides “for optional use” encourages institutions and athletics programs to assess themselves in relation to the DEI “vision or goals for the athletics department and for the college or university” as a whole. Athletics programs dedicated to treating every individual with dignity and respect will easily meet this standard without adopting highly ideological DEI programming. 

Texas universities are free to incorporate many elements of the optional sample framework. They can create cross-campus collaborative study committees that include “a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and identities.” They can ensure that hiring processes are scrupulously fair and make efforts to recruit a diverse pool of athletes, coaches, and administrators, as long as they do not use diversity statements or loyalty oaths to tip the scales or politicize the processes. And they can ensure that athletes have the services they need to succeed athletically and academically, irrespective of demographic or economic background.  

Fairness and equal treatment are cardinal virtues in athletic competition. They dovetail with the NCAA’s overarching goal for schools to “discover and put in place pathways for student-athletes to reach their full potential.” Far from undermining a university’s ability to comply with these objectives, H.B. 5127 will ensure that Texas universities advance them by treating every student and athlete with dignity and respect. 

 

Jack Brewer was raised in Grapevine, Texas, and serves as the Chair of the Center for Opportunity Now, and Vice-Chair of the Center for 1776 at the America First Policy Institute. His global charity efforts have delivered millions in emergency aid and currently provide programs to thousands living in extreme poverty. He is a White House appointee on the Congressional Commission for the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, and is currently a Professor at Fordham Gabelli School of Business, where he has created curriculum tailored for transitioning athletes and prisoners. Brewer was a team captain for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles. Brewer attended Southern Methodist University where he was a two-sport athlete. 

Read op-ed in Houston Chronicle