Alabama SB 129: What the Anti-DEI Law Prohibits and Allows

Alabama Senate Bill 129 is a state law that restricts diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at state agencies, K-12 school boards, and public colleges and universities. Signed by Governor Kay Ivey and codified at Alabama Code § 41-1-90 et seq. as Act 2024-34, it took effect on October 1, 2024. The law shuts down DEI offices, forbids compelling anyone to agree with eight listed “divisive concepts,” bars required diversity statements, and tells public universities to designate multi-occupancy restrooms by biological sex. A federal court has refused to pause it, so it is in force now.

Who Has to Follow It

The act covers three groups of public entities: state agencies, local boards of education, and public institutions of higher education. The higher-education category reaches every two-year and four-year college or university governed by a constitutionally created board of trustees, as defined under Alabama Code § 16-5-1.¹ It also reaches contractors who provide non-construction services to any of those entities.

Private colleges and private employers that do not receive state funding are outside the law’s scope. If you work at, study at, or contract with a state-funded Alabama entity, you are inside it.

What the Law Prohibits

Section 2 bars state agencies, school boards, and public universities from doing eight specific things:²

Sponsoring a DEI program or keeping any office, department, or physical location that promotes DEI programs as the statute defines them.
Directing any student, employee, or contractor to personally affirm or adhere to any of the eight divisive concepts.
Running mandatory training, orientation, or coursework that advocates for or demands agreement with a divisive concept.
Requiring students, employees, or contractors to share their personal views on a divisive concept outside an academic setting.
Including required lobbying of state or local officials on divisive-concept legislation in curricula or professional training.
Penalizing anyone for refusing to support, endorse, or agree with a divisive concept or a diversity statement.
Conditioning enrollment or attendance in a class, training, or orientation solely on race or color.
Spending money, applying for grants, or accepting funding for the purpose of compelling agreement with any divisive concept, though funding may still go to student, faculty, or staff organizations.

The sixth item is what effectively ends required diversity statements in Alabama public hiring and admissions. The statute does not define “diversity statement” separately, but public employers and universities cannot demand a written commitment to DEI principles as a condition of hiring or admission, and they cannot screen out candidates who refuse to provide one.

The Eight Divisive Concepts

The ideas state entities cannot endorse or compel agreement with are defined in § 41-1-90(2):¹

That any race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior.
That people should be discriminated against because of their race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.
That a person’s moral character is determined by their race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.
That someone is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or not, because of their race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.
That people bear responsibility for past actions committed by others who share their race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.
That fault or blame should be assigned based on demographic group.
That anyone should feel guilt, complicity, or a duty to apologize because of their race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.
That meritocracy or traits like a strong work ethic are racist or sexist.

These concepts are not banned from campus. The prohibition targets state-sponsored programming that presents them as truth or demands participants agree with them.

What the Law Still Allows

Section 4 lists nine categories of activity the law does not restrict, and several of them are what keep public universities functional under the act.

Classroom Teaching

Faculty at public universities can teach any divisive concept as part of a broader course of study, as long as the concept is presented “in an objective manner and without endorsement” and students are not compelled to agree with it. Instructors can also answer student questions about divisive concepts or DEI topics during orientation, coursework, or training sessions. Teaching historical events in a historically accurate context is explicitly protected.²

A political science professor can assign readings arguing that systemic racism exists, and students can debate the idea. What the professor cannot do is tell students they must agree with that position to pass the course.

Student, Staff, and Faculty Organizations

Student, staff, and faculty organizations can host DEI programs and discussions involving divisive concepts on their own. State funds cannot sponsor these events, and the organization has to identify itself as the sponsor at the event and in advertising. The university must still provide space and support services on a nondiscriminatory basis, so a group cannot be denied a meeting room solely because its event involves restricted topics.

Healthcare, Research, and Accreditation

Public institutions can still run research and clinical trials, do outreach and recruiting, offer academic support services, and provide medical, mental health, and other healthcare targeted to specific demographic groups. Collecting and reporting demographic data is permitted. Programs required for professional accreditation are also protected, so a medical school can still teach about health disparities when its accreditor requires it.

First Amendment and Federal Law

Nothing in the act may be construed to inhibit or violate the First Amendment rights of any student or employee. State agencies can still promote racial, cultural, or ethnic diversity so long as they comply with the act’s other provisions. Federal civil rights obligations are untouched.

The Restroom Requirement

A separate mandate in Section 4 requires every public institution of higher education to designate multiple-occupancy restrooms based on biological sex, as defined under Alabama Code § 16-1-54. This applies to colleges and universities specifically, not to all state agencies. Single-occupancy restrooms are not addressed. The provision also preserves sex-segregated housing, athletic programming, and social organizations.

How Violations Are Handled

Section 3 gives state agencies, school boards, and public universities authority to discipline or terminate any employee or contractor who knowingly violates the act. “Knowingly” is doing real work in that sentence: an accidental misstep in a classroom discussion is not the same as deliberately running a prohibited program.

There is no new enforcement agency and no standalone complaint process. The act layers onto existing institutional discipline systems with a few guardrails. University employees keep their institution’s established policies, including tenure protections. K-12 employees can appeal termination to the local board of education or the State Board of Education, and those covered by the Teacher Accountability Act or Students First Act keep those protections. A contractor’s agreement cannot be terminated under the act unless the contractor knowingly violated it while performing contractual duties.

The statute does not set a schedule of fines or suspensions. “Discipline” is left to each institution’s internal framework, so consequences will differ across agencies and campuses.

The Court Challenge

Simon v. Ivey, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, challenges SB 129 on constitutional grounds, including a First Amendment claim that the law chills speech about race and diversity on college campuses. The court declined to issue a preliminary injunction, so the law remains fully in effect while the case continues. No final ruling on the merits has issued as of early 2026.

How Alabama Campuses Have Responded

Several University of Alabama System campuses closed their DEI offices before the October 2024 deadline and replaced them with renamed units. The Tuscaloosa flagship replaced its Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with a Division of Opportunities, Connections and Success. The University of Alabama at Birmingham opened an Office of Access and Engagement, and the Huntsville campus launched an Office of Access, Connections and Engagement. Jacksonville State University shut down its Office of Diversity and Inclusion entirely and reassigned staff.

These rebranded offices generally continue providing student support, academic assistance, and community outreach, which fall within the law’s exemptions. What they cannot do is run programming that fits the statute’s definition of a DEI program or operate in ways that endorse the listed divisive concepts.

1
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 41-1-90 – Definitions
2
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code – SB129 Enrolled