A Republican-led bill aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in higher education programs will reach a halt after garnering opposition from Gov. Tony Evers.
The bill changes loans or grants based on race and ethnicity to instead award “disadvantaged” students, defined as students who experienced economic, familial, geographic, physical or other personal hardship affecting their financial situation. The bill strictly excludes consideration of a student’s race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or religion.
Britt Cudaback, the governor's spokesperson, said Evers will veto the bill in an email to The Daily Cardinal. Evers previously indicated he would veto the same legislation back in 2023 but the bill never reached his desk. After being reintroduced in November 2025, the legislation passed the Senate on Jan. 21.
Author Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Gillett, said in a statement to the Cardinal the legislation would “ensure students are not judged for immutable characteristics by making state loans or grants available based on financial need.”
He also said the legislation follows the precedent of the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action that barred universities from using race as a factor when admitting or denying students.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling gutted affirmative action for public and private institutions in 2023, and President Donald Trump’s re-election furthered anti-DEI action across the country.
Justin Bielinski, a spokesperson for Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, told the Cardinal the bill is a “denial of the fact that racism still exists.”
“We need programs like this to help everyone have the same chance of achieving the American dream,” Bielinski said. “We have race-based programs to help level the playing field.”
Programs affected include Lawton grants, minority teacher loan programs and minority undergraduate loans in the University of Wisconsin System and the Wisconsin Technical College System. It also removes minority student enrollment requirements for the Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc. and Marquette University School of Dentistry.
Wimberger said these cuts would “expand the number of programs available to disadvantaged students of any race, and ensure they have just as much of an opportunity to attend college as any other student.”
This isn’t Wimberger’s first run-in with UW System DEI initiatives. After the University of Wisconsin-Madison removed its chief diversity officer over alleged financial mismanagement, Wimberger called DEI “harmful as it reinforces negative stereotypes by design” and a “slush fund of waste for grifters to profit off government funding.”
“Wisconsin should not tolerate, much less propagate, race-based discrimination masquerading as equality in its halls of government,” Wimberger said after a state audit showed the UW System failed to track millions of dollars spent on DEI.
The bill passed the Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges in mid-January and now waits for its first reading in the Assembly.
The Cardinal reached out to multiple Republican co-sponsors of the bill but did not receive a comment.
Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, a conservative law firm, claimed that UW-Madison illegally uses race-based scholarships, alleging that the university is committing a Title IV violation and infringing on the 14th Amendment, according to a complaint they filed in January 2026 with the U.S. Department of Education on behalf of the Young America’s Foundation club.
The complaint comes after a Trump Administration investigation into UW-Madison and 44 other universities’ ‘race-based practices’ in March 2025.
Republican lawmakers are also attempting to change the state's constitution, adding a proposed constitutional amendment to November's ballot, which would ban DEI initiatives in “government entities” including the UW-System.
