A bill that targets diversity, equity and inclusion will move to the South Carolina House floor after passing in committee on Wednesday, March 19. Student organizations at USC shared concerns about this bill's potential effects.
The House Education and Public Works Committee met to discuss passing an amendment to bill H. 3927, which will directly affect the South Carolina public sector, including universities such as USC.
This bill aims to prohibit South Carolina state political subdivisions and institutions of higher learning from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The bill focuses on ending race and sex-based preferences in hiring, training and admissions while promoting merit-based policies based on individual skills and achievements.
Isa Webster, a second-year sexual health student and event coordinator for the Q+ Honors Caucus at USC, said there is a lot of uncertainty about what will happen to organizations based on identity on campus. Some of the concerns around this bill include potential issues for organizations that are believed to be DEI-based, as well as potential struggles to find locations and availability to hold meetings, Webster said.
“First of all, all of us are scared. We don’t know what’s going on,” Webster said. “I’ll be very frank: I have been trying to figure out what’s going to happen to all of the LGBTQ and diverse racial organizations on campus, but no one can tell me.”
Along with the uncertainty about what this bill could do on campus, Bernie McIlnay, a sport and entertainment management graduate student and the development director for Individuals Respecting Identities and Sexualities (IRIS), said diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are beneficial to a lot more groups than people realize.
IRIS is an organization on campus that focuses on advocacy and providing a community for discussion on issues affecting LGBTQ+ individuals.
“They’re good for veterans, they’re good for women, they’re good for Black people, anybody that has any sort of disadvantage,” McIlnay said.
Rep. Terry Alexander was one representative to speak out against this bill at the committee hearing on March 19. He stated what he believed the importance of DEI was.
“I pray that none of us want all of us to be like each other. That is humanly and divinely impossible. So we must be inclusive in engaging in this process,” Rep. Alexander said at the committee hearing.
While Rep. Alexander spoke against this bill, Rep. Tim McGinnis spoke on misconceptions he believes are present about this bill.
“It does not mean it’s preventing an office of civil rights, an office of wellness and belonging. We still have a long way to go with everybody getting along and accepting everybody else,” Rep. McGinnis said. “I understand that. But I don’t think that we achieve that goal by promoting group identity over individual merit.”
While Rep. McGinnis said these programs potentially limit individual success, Isabella Troy Brazoban, a nuclear engineering student at South Carolina State University, said she benefited from DEI initiatives at a committee hearing on March 4.
"What the supporters of this bill fail to take into account are the long-term implications, implications that Black Americans are far too familiar with in this country," Brazoban said. "Diversity, equity and inclusion tools are essential in aiding my ability to thrive in a world convinced that I am incapable of possessing an intellectual mind."
Webster acknowledged that while there is a belief of division under these initiatives, the goal of many organizations is to unite individuals and build communities.
“These fill holes where community has left them. People create organizations based on the holes they see in their lives and the change they want to see,” Webster said. “And so, when there’s a weakness, when we are not supporting our community, that’s when we see these organizations form to produce support.”
Webster also said student organizations, such as the Q+ Honor Caucus, are often welcoming to all individuals who want to attend, filling gaps for those who may feel less supported.
“And so, it’s not taking away from anyone else to have the existence of these communities and these orgs. In fact, go to them,” Webster said. "These places are welcoming to everybody because diversity includes everybody," they said.
Webster said that this anti-DEI legislature does not only have an impact on LGBTQ+ organizations, but it also impacts Greek life and multicultural organizations, to name a few.
Julia Smith, a third-year sociology and gender studies student, spoke in opposition to this bill at the same hearing as Brazoban on March 4.
"There is a misunderstanding that diversity, equity and inclusion provides more opportunities or benefits to marginalized communities. However, instead, diversity, equity and inclusion practices recognize preexisting privilege and the disparities marginalized communities experience on a daily basis," Smith said.
McIlnay said it is important to build and support the community of USC with so much uncertainty and attacks on public institutions coming with this bill.
This bill still has a long way to go before it is signed into law. It has been voted on in the House committee and approved; now, it is sent to the House to be voted on. If it is passed there, it will move to the Senate to repeat the process.
McIlnay said that if individuals don’t agree with this legislature, it is important to show up and speak up for what they want.
“And I think it is very important that we speak our mind in these public comment sessions. It is very important to tell them this is not acceptable. This is not what we voted for. This is not what we want to see,” McIlnay said.
This law will affect many individuals in South Carolina and at USC, so it is important to pay attention when it comes to laws that have a direct effect on campus, McIlnay said
“It’s not just about voting. It’s about actively being politically engaged because as tiring as it is, as awful as it is, these laws have effects on us, heavy dreadful consequences if we don’t speak up,” McIlnay said.