164.2895 Prohibited practices -- Consideration of religion, race, sex, color, or
1,318 words·~6 min read·
/ky/164-2895A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
national origin by public postsecondary education institution disallowed --
Resources not to be spent on diversity, equity, and inclusion office --
Exceptions -- Attorney General to enforce -- Audit.
(1)An institution shall not:
(a)Except as provided in subsection (2)(n) and
(o)of this section, provide any
differential treatment or benefits to an individual, including a candidate or
applicant for employment, promotion, contract, contract renewal, or
admission, on the basis of the individual's religion, race, sex, color, or national
origin;
(b)Discriminate in student admissions on the basis of religion, race, sex, color, or
national origin;
(c)Except as provided in subsection (2)(l) of this section:
1. Impose any scholarship criteria or scholarship eligibility restriction on,
or provide differential treatment or benefits to, a scholarship applicant,
candidate, or recipient on the basis of an individual's religion, race, sex,
color, or national origin; or
2. Execute or renew any legally binding restriction that would require an
institution to consider the religion, race, sex, color, or national origin of
a scholarship applicant, candidate, or recipient;
(d)Prioritize or provide preferential consideration for vendors, contracts, or other
transactions based upon the religion, race, sex, color, or national origin of the
ownership, management, or staff of any business or nonprofit entity, except
that the institution may provide preferential consideration for businesses
owned by residents of Kentucky and the United States;
(e)Make student housing assignments on the basis of religion, sex, race, color, or
national origin unless an exception is necessary to:
1. Maintain separate living facilities for members of a single biological
sex; or
2. Permit need-based access to student housing facilities during school
breaks, provided that room assignments are not implemented in a
discriminatory manner or segregated by religion, race, color, or national
origin;
(f)Initiate an investigation of a bias incident unless the general counsel for the
institution authorizes the investigation and certifies in writing that the
investigation is necessary because the conduct being investigated:
1. May rise to the level of student-on-student harassment if all facts alleged
are taken as true; or
2. Is subject to mandatory investigation pursuant to applicable state or
federal law;
(g)Hold a hearing, tribunal, or other disciplinary proceeding on a bias incident
unless the general counsel for the institution authorizes the hearing and
certifies in writing, after a review of all relevant evidence, that the hearing is
necessary to ensure compliance with applicable state or federal law;
(h)Expend any resources to:
1. Establish or maintain a diversity, equity, and inclusion office;
2. Contract or employ an individual to serve as a diversity, equity, and
inclusion officer;
3. Provide diversity, equity, and inclusion training or contribute to any cost
associated with planning, promoting, hosting, traveling to, attending,
presenting, or otherwise participating in diversity, equity, and inclusion
training; or
4. Establish or maintain a diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative;
(i)On an application for employment, promotion, contract, contract renewal,
admission, housing, financial aid, or scholarship, compel, solicit, or consider
any pledge or statement on an applicant's experience with or views on
religion, race, sex, color, or national origin, except an institution may:
1. If an applicant for admission or scholarship submits an unsolicited
statement concerning how a matter relating to religion, race, sex, color,
or national origin affected his or her life, consider the statement but shall
not provide differential treatment or benefits based upon the race, sex,
religion, color, or national origin of the applicant; and
2. Require an applicant for housing to disclose his or her biological sex for
the purpose of maintaining separate living facilities for members of a
single biological sex;
(j)Require any student to enroll in or complete an academic course of which the
primary purpose is to indoctrinate participants with a discriminatory concept;
or
(k)Require or incentivize students, faculty, or staff to attend a diversity, equity,
and inclusion training.
(2)Notwithstanding subsection
(1)of this section, nothing in this section shall be
construed to apply to or affect any of the following:
(a)Rights secured by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution or
Section 1 of the Constitution of Kentucky;
(b)Academic course content or instruction;
(c)Academic freedom of faculty, students, and student organizations;
(d)Academic research or creative works by an institution’s students, faculty, or
research personnel;
(e)The distribution of grant funding for academic research;
(f)Religious freedom of faculty, students, and student organizations;
(g)Publications and the freedom of expression of student newspapers and
university press;
(h)Activities, funding, conduct, speech, and freedom of association of student-
led organizations, or the conduct or speech of students acting in their
individual capacity;
(i)Activities, programs, and initiatives for military veterans, Pell Grant
recipients, first-generation college students, low-income students,
nontraditional students, transfer students from the Kentucky Community and
Technical College System, or students with unique abilities;
(j)Arrangements for guest speakers and performers with short-term
engagements, including those invited by students or faculty;
(k)The purchase of materials for university library inventory and the access of
the public to university library inventory;
(l)Endowments for privately funded scholarships that existed before June 27,
2025, that require an institution to consider the religion, race, sex, color, or
national origin of a scholarship applicant or candidate until the balance of
corpus is exhausted;
(m)Mental or physical health services provided by certified or licensed
professionals;
(n)A bona fide qualification or accommodation based on biological sex that is
historically maintained in the usual course of operating an institution and does
not constitute a diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative;
(o)A bona fide qualification based on national origin that is related to the
eligibility of an individual for a visa;
(p)A bona fide accommodation based on religion that is necessary to comply
with federal or state law;
(q)The ability of an institution to investigate criminal acts or acts of
discrimination in accordance with applicable federal or state law;
(r)Programs or measures required for institutional accreditations; or
(s)Programs or measures intended to enable the collection of demographic data.
(3)Notwithstanding subsection
(1)of this section, nothing in this section shall be
construed to prohibit programs, procedures, policies, and other initiatives deemed
by the institution's general counsel to be required for compliance with federal or
state law, a court order, or a binding contract entered into prior to June 7, 2025.
(4)Each governing board shall ensure compliance with this section no later than June
30, 2025.
(5)Beginning July 1, 2026, each institution shall submit an annual certification to the
council that:
(a)Is signed by president of the institution or the chief financial officer of the
institution; and
(b)Certifies that the institution has not spent money in violation of this section
during the previous fiscal year.
(6)The Attorney General may bring a civil action for a writ of mandamus to compel an
institution to comply with this section.
(a)The Auditor of Public Accounts shall periodically conduct a compliance audit
to determine whether an institution spent money in violation of subsection
(1)(h) of this section. The Auditor shall adopt a schedule by which the Auditor
will conduct these compliance audits, provided that they shall occur at least
once every four
(4)years.
(b)If the Auditor determines that an institution spent money in violation of
subsection (1)(h) of this section, the Auditor shall notify the institution. The
institution shall cure the violation within one hundred eighty
(180)days from
the date of the Auditor’s notice. If the institution fails to cure the violation
within that time, the institution shall be ineligible to receive formula funding
increases pursuant to KRS 164.092 during the following fiscal year.
(c)If the institution disputes the Auditor’s finding that it violated subsection
(1)(h) of this section, then within thirty
(30)days the institution may petition
the Office of the Attorney General to evaluate the evidence and determine
whether the violation occurred.