State Senator in Tennessee wants to slash universities' diversity spending

 

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  By Scott Greer, on Feb 01, 2013

A Tennessee state senator has proposed legislation that would drastically cut funding for diversity programs at public universities.

Sen. Summerville sees the programs as unnecessary and believes eliminating them will help reduce tuition costs.

The proposal, the Civil Rights Initiative of 2013, would save money by laying off “diversity officers,” removing affirmative action from the university admission process, and barring the state from tracking statistics based on race, ethnicity, and gender.

The bill’s author, Senator Jim Summerville (R-Dickson), told Campus Reform on Tuesday he believes these programs are no longer necessary.

“Now the door [to high education] is open to everybody,” Summerville stated.

“All you do is work hard, present the qualifications, and you can do anything in our country.”

Summerville cited the need to cut unnecessary programs in order to combat the rising cost of tuition at Tennessee’s public universities.

“Our college tuitions are going through the roof already and we’re paying someone [diversity officers] to do what is essentially unnecessary because everyone is welcome at our colleges and universities and everyone knows that,” he explained.

Read More at Campus Reform.