Mock sit-in canceled at Alabama college due to fear of violating DEI law: Lawsuit

The effects of an Alabama anti-DEI law have cascaded beyond the classroom and are affecting the lives of many students and professors, according to six plaintiffs behind a federal lawsuit suing the University of Alabama System board of trustees and Gov. Kay Ivey.

The lawsuit is an attempt to roll back the impact of a state law that bans colleges from promoting “divisive” concepts. It comes amid a national effort by President Donald Trump to stop colleges from continuing DEI practices.

Plaintiffs say normal educational activities, such as a mock sit-in for a class project, have been stifled by an administration afraid of running afoul of the state law.

“Campus, as a whole, feels sort of resentful toward the state for the bill,” Isabella Campos, a plaintiff and a political science student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told AL.com.

On Jan. 14, students and professors at the system’s Tuscaloosa and Birmingham campuses sued, saying that the law violates their constitutional rights, including the First Amendment.

In response to the complaint, the Gov. Ivey said that plaintiffs haven’t adequately demonstrated that they or other people are specifically harmed by the new law. The plaintiffs have asked for an immediate injunction on the law.

The legislation, SB 129, prohibits state-funded programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, including at colleges and universities.

Colleges around the state shuttered DEI offices. At Auburn and UA, the areas designated for LGBTQ students closed. The Black Student Union space was closed at UA.

Plaintiff Miguel Luna, a junior studying political science and history at UAB, told AL.com that the lawsuit isn’t about pushing an agenda.

“We’re just trying to ensure that everyone has a seat at the table and that we can all be equitable in how we’re moving,” Luna said. He said classifying topics such as race as divisive is dangerous, because “different communities face disproportionate issues, and these issues still affect a lot of us today.”

The plaintiffs believe SB 129 “was enacted, at least in part, with the purpose of discriminating against Black people.” They said “divisive concepts” is too ambiguous for faculty and students to follow. The defendants argue the law is clear and “states in everyday English the acts that are prohibited.”

UA’s guidance for faculty includes adding a disclaimer on their class syllabus, a document which outlines class goals, assignments and outcomes. The professors claim the recommended disclaimer isn’t enough, including telling students they “may present difficult, objectionable or controversial topics for consideration, but will do so through an objective scholarly lens.” According to the complaint, this included sensitive topics such as discrimination during the Holocaust.

UAB students, according to the complaint, “observed that professors have been less willing to share their opinions.” The professors would stop mid-sentence or comment, “I could go to jail for saying this.”

Gov. Ivey said in her response that the Alabama constitution is “color-blind,” so they forbid “the professors it pays to teach its curriculum from compelling students at its universities to affirm, as part of their coursework, that white students are inherently superior to black students, that Jewish students should be discriminated against and that Germans are inherently racist.”

One of the plaintiffs, Cassandra Simon, is an associate professor at UA’s School of Social Work. She said in the past, her students watch documentaries such as “Eyes on the Prize” about the Civil Rights Movement. Students expressed “feelings of anger, guilt, complicity and shame” after watching the movie, which Simon worried may run afoul of SB 129.

Gov. Ivey’s lawyers responded that an “an objectively reasonable professor would have no reason to think that merely presenting and discussing “Eyes on the Prize” violates any provision” of the law.

When students planned a sit-in for a project in her class in November, Simon received an email from the school’s dean saying that the sit-in should be canceled.

The email quoted a section of the faculty handbook that said failure to comply could lead to “progressive disciplinary actions up to and including termination.” The event was canceled two hours before it began, according to reporting from The Crimson White.

“Are we going to get you fired because we chose to do this?” students have asked Simon. She said students are normally engaged and excited to learn about unfamiliar topics. Now, they’ve backtracked on sensitive issues.

“Students are not getting a complete comprehensive education when we have these kinds of limitations placed on us,” Simon told AL.com.

In the Gov. Ivey’s response to the complaint, they said Simon’s speech can be regulated because she is not acting as a citizen but as a state employee—at a state university, in a state classroom, on the State’s time and paid by the State’s dime."

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The story was updated on March 18 to indicate the response to the complaint is on behalf of Gov. Kay Ivey.