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A little over one year ago, headlines trumpeted new laws in the GOP-friendly states of Ohio and Kentucky that banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs and policies in higher education.
Just one problem, according to the conservative watchdog group Accuracy in Media — the laws do not go far enough.
In two undercover videos released recently, the group showed how DEI is still taught within classrooms at universities in the two states because the laws passed in Ohio and Kentucky do not regulate curriculum.
In one video, a University of Louisville sociology professor tells an undercover investigator for AIM that she still teaches her classes embedded with DEI concepts despite 2025’s House Bill 4, which only eliminated DEI offices and training programs.
“I’m teaching it exactly the same,” said Professor Karen Christopher, adding the “curriculum has not been touched.” The professor, who did not know she was being filmed at the time, also noted that it’s “harder” for lawmakers to come after curriculum because of “academic freedom.”
In another AIM video, this time at Ohio State University, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs Jennie Babcock tells an undercover investigator that “from a curriculum standpoint, there are no limitations in terms of what we teach.”
Ohio in 2025 passed Senate Bill 1, which outlawed DEI programs and trainings. But as Babcock pointed out in the surreptitiously filmed AIM video, the “good news” of the law is that because it does not regulate curriculum, courses are taught the same as always, DEI and all.
“We talk about bias, we talk about social justice,” she said. “We have many courses on sexuality diversity, we’re still teaching them.”
OSU’s media affairs division spokesman Benjamin Johnson told The College Fix via email that “Ohio State is in compliance with SB 1. We are aware of the video and are looking into it.”
John Karman, a spokesperson for UL, told The Fix: “The professor correctly notes that there is a carve out for curriculum in HB 4. Beyond that, we see no need to comment on a story generated by a media outlet that uses deceit and selective editing to advance its agenda.”
The scholars in the videos did not respond to The Fix’s request for comment.
Adam Guillette, president of Accuracy in Media, said the videos highlight how “DEI remains in the curriculum” despite the anti-DEI laws. His group calls the situation “loopholes.”
AIM encourages its supporters to contact lawmakers in the states and demand stronger reforms, in particular to take inspiration from Florida legislation.
Guillette told The Fix via email the Florida law directly addresses curriculum by prohibiting educators from promoting identity politics and requiring general education courses to “promote the philosophical underpinnings of Western civilization” whenever applicable.
Asked to weigh in on whether lawmakers should regulate curriculum, Peter Wood, president of the center-right National Association of Scholars, said the answer is not black and white.
“NAS regards DEI in all its forms as a detriment to education. Removing it ‘from the classroom,’ however, poses a challenge that differs in important ways from removing it from the administrative apparatus of public universities,” he told The College Fix via email.
“Faculty members can and do defend their DEI classroom practices on First Amendment and academic freedom grounds. For states to ban classroom DEI requires that they move very carefully,” Wood said.
Professors must be able to address real intellectual issues that entail race, “but what should be excluded is the pseudo-intellectual and propagandistic stuff that is often presented as DEI, or even more often is presented without the DEI label, but is still presented as authoritative,” he said.
“If a state can figure out how to thread that needle, we support the effort. The underlying problem is the bad faith of some faculty members who are eager to teach DEI and just as eager to cry censorship if they are held to reasonable academic standards.”
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