Democratic Gov. Beshear vetoes GOP bill to dismantle DEI efforts at Kentucky's public universities

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Democratic Gov. Beshear vetoes GOP bill to dismantle DEI efforts at Kentucky's public universities

2025-03-21 05:56 Last Updated At：06:00

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a GOP-backed bill Thursday to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at public universities, declaring that diversity should be embraced as a strength while branding the legislation as being “about hate.”

Beshear, who is seen as a potential candidate for the White House in 2028, announced his veto in a social media video. His forceful defense of diversity initiatives comes as Republican President Donald Trump seeks to end government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

“I believe in the Golden Rule that says we love our neighbor as ourself, and there are no exceptions, no asterisks,” Beshear said. "We love and we accept everyone. This bill isn’t about love. House Bill 4 is about hate. So I’m gonna try a little act of love myself, and I’m gonna veto it right now.”

In his formal veto message, the governor bluntly said the bill might someday be seen as part of an “anti-civil rights” movement.

The anti-DEI legislation cleared both legislative chambers by lopsided margins. Kentucky's Republican supermajority legislature will have a chance to override Beshear's veto when lawmakers reconvene in late March for the final two days of this year's 30-day session. Throughout Beshear's tenure as governor, GOP lawmakers have, with gusto, routinely swept aside his vetoes to push their policies into law.

Republican state Rep. Josh Calloway denounced Beshear's veto on the social media platform X, calling it “nothing but political theater, and the people of Kentucky see right through it. DEI (Division, Exclusion, Indoctrination) must DIE in KY.”

The measure's lead sponsor, GOP state Rep. Jennifer Decker, said at a recent committee hearing that “DEI bureaucracy” had made college "more divided, more expensive and less tolerant.”

“Taxpayers should not fund such practices, however well-intended," she said. "Historically, America has striven for equal opportunity, not subjective equity, which DEI now pursues through discriminatory missions, hirings and scholarships.”

Kentucky Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal commended Beshear for the veto, saying the bill would "do nothing to improve education in this state, but would instead send a harmful message that diversity is something to be feared rather than embraced.”

The measure Beshear rejected would require Kentucky's public universities and community and technical colleges to defund DEI initiatives. It also would require the schools to eliminate DEI offices and prohibit them from requiring students or staff to attend DEI training sessions.

“I’ll always believe that diversity is a strength and never a weakness,” Beshear said in the video from his office at the Kentucky Capitol. “That we are better with more voices and more seats at our table.”

More than 50 universities are being investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of Trump’s campaign to end DEI programs, which his officials say exclude white and Asian American students.

The U.S. Education Department recently announced the new investigations, one month after issuing a memo warning America’s schools and colleges that they could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.

Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at eliminating the U.S. Education Department, advancing a campaign promise to eliminate an agency blasted by conservatives as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. Beshear has criticized efforts to mothball the agency.

The term-limited Kentucky governor recently participated in a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 60th anniversary of the clash that became known as Bloody Sunday. The attack shocked the nation and galvanized support for the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Last year, Beshear condemned efforts to limit DEI practices at public universities after marching with other Kentuckians to commemorate the 60th anniversary of a civil rights rally that featured Martin Luther King Jr. in the state’s capital city of Frankfort. Anti-DEI legislation died last year in Kentucky amid a House-Senate impasse in what was a rare temporary setback on a priority, hot-button issue.

“DEI is not a four-letter word,” Beshear said at the time. “DEI is a three-letter acronym for very important values that are found in our Bible. Diversity, equity and inclusion is about loving each other. It’s about living out the Golden Rule. ... Diversity will always make us stronger.”

Detained Istanbul mayor faces second day of questioning as protests over his arrest intensify

2025-03-23 02:56 Last Updated At：03:02

ISTANBUL (AP) — Hundreds of supporters gathered in front of an Istanbul courthouse on Saturday, where detained Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu faced further questioning over allegations of corruption and terror links. His arrest this week intensified political tensions and sparked widespread protests across Turkey, with demonstrators rallying in multiple cities to voice their opposition.

Police questioned Imamoglu for around five hours on Saturday as part of an investigation into allegations of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the Cumhuriyet newspaper reported. A day earlier he was questioned for four hours over the corruption accusations. The mayor rejected all charges during both interrogations.

He was later transferred to a courthouse for questioning by prosecutors along with some 90 other people who were also detained with him.

The authorities barred access to the courthouse using barricades on local roads and closing nearby metro stations. Hundreds of police officers and over a dozen water cannon trucks were deployed. Still, hundreds gathered in front of the building shouting: “Rights, law, justice!”

Crowds also began to rally outside the city hall for a fourth night in a show of support to the mayor.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on social media that 343 suspects had been detained in protests in major cities on Friday night, adding “There will be no tolerance for those who seek to violate societal order, threaten the people’s peace and security, and pursue chaos and provocation.” The cities listed included Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Canakkale, Eskisehir, Konya and Edirne.

Imamoglu, who is a popular opposition figure and seen as a top challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained on Wednesday following a dawn raid on his residence over allegations of financial crimes and links to Kurdish militants. Dozens of other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.

Many view the arrest as a politically driven attempt to remove a popular opposition figure and key challenger to Erdogan in the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028. Government officials reject accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that Turkey’s courts operate independently.

His arrest has ignited protests that have steadily increased in intensity.

On Friday, police in Istanbul used pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets to push back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a barricade in front of the city’s historic aqueduct while hurling flares, stones and other objects at officers. Police also dispersed groups that had rallied outside of the city hall for a third night running, after the opposition Republican People’s Party leader, Ozgur Ozel, delivered a speech in support of the mayor.

Simultaneously, police broke up demonstrations in Ankara, the capital, as well as in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, resorting to forceful measures at times, according to television images. Thousands marched in several other cities calling on the government to resign.

Earlier, Erdogan said the government would not tolerate street protests and accused the opposition party of links to corruption and terror organizations.

The Istanbul governor's office announced it was expanding a ban on demonstrations until March 26 and imposed restrictions on the entry and exit of vehicles deemed to be transporting people “likely to participate in unlawful activities.”

Erdogan on Saturday accused the CHP’s leadership of turning the party “into an apparatus to absolve a handful of municipal robbers who have become blinded by money.”

He also accused it of “doing everything to disturb the public peace, to polarize the nation.”

Imamoglu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate in a primary on Sunday. Ozel has said that the primary, where around 1.5 million delegates can vote, will go ahead as planned.

The opposition party has also urged citizens to participate in a symbolic election on Sunday — through improvised ballot boxes to be set up across Turkey — to show solidarity with Imamoglu.

In a tweet posted shortly before his arrival at the courthouse, Imamoglu urged the public to safeguard the ballot boxes for Sunday’s primary, “Don’t forget: they are very afraid of you and your democratic right to vote.”

In an earlier message, Imamoglu described his arrest as a “coup" and accused the government of exploiting the judiciary and worsening the country’s troubled economy.