The University of Kansas is directing employees to remove their pronouns from official email signatures in response to a state mandate purging diversity practices at state universities.

The mandate, buried in a budget proviso the Legislature passed in April, prompted the Kansas Board of Regents to instruct institutions to make a variety of changes.

Those changes include eliminating any positions, policies, programs, activities, training requirements or contracts related to diversity, equity and inclusion — commonly referred to as DEI.

In a letter sent to employees Tuesday and signed by Chancellor Douglas A. Girod and two vice chancellors, officials say those required changes “have already been addressed at KU.”

The only DEI priority left, they say, is forcing employees to comply with the new email signature policy.

“In keeping with the Regents’ directive, university employees — including student employees — are required to remove gender-identifying pronouns or gender ideology from the signature blocks of their state email accounts,” the KU letter says.

The same prohibition on pronouns applies to any other platforms that university employees use to communicate in their official capacity, including screen names on Zoom and Teams.

The budget directive does not define how to interpret the ban on “gender ideology,” although it means depictions of the trans flag and expressions promoting acceptance would likely violate the policy.

The deadline for compliance with the state mandate is July 31.

“Employees who have not complied with the new proviso by July 31 should be reminded of it and the deadline to comply,” the KU letter says.

They asked supervisors to contact human resources if they can’t convince their employees to comply.

Officials note that business cards, multi-use name badges and stationery with gender-identifying pronouns don’t have to be thrown out.

“Rather, they should be updated as production cycles and budgets allow,” the letter says.

KU diversity crackdown

In March, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it was investigating KU and 44 other universities for “race-exclusionary practices” in its graduate programs.

That charge stemmed from universities partnering with The Ph.d. Project, an organization that encourages students from diverse backgrounds to pursue doctoral degrees in business. A KU informational webpage about its Doctor of Philosophy in Business degree has since been scrubbed of any reference to the Ph.D. Project.

The Department of Education has made no additional announcements about the status of its investigation into the universities.

KU has preemptively taken measures to rein in its diversity efforts in response to mounting pressure from Republican state lawmakers.

Last fall, the university consolidated three campus resource centers with a combined 150-year history of serving minority students into one new center for student engagement and shrunk the footprint of its Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.

KU did not respond to a request Tuesday afternoon to provide a list of all the programs, policies, contracts, training requirements and other items that have been eliminated or rebranded in light of the new state requirements.

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