South Carolina H 3219: Youth Mentor Act

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3219 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 06, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3219

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS by ENACTing THE 
"REJECTING RACISM IN POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION ACT" by adding article 4 to 
chapter 101, title 59, so as to entitle the article "rejecting racism in 
postsecondary education"; TO PROVIDE THE PURPOSE OF THE ACT; TO PROVIDE 
NECESSARY DEFINITIONS; AND TO ENACT PROVISIONS TO PREVENT DISCRIMINATION, TO 
PROMOTE THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS AND FACULTY OF PUBLIC K-12 AND 
SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THIS STATE, AND TO PROTECT THE FREE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS 
ACCORDING TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THIS STATE.

Whereas, the General 
Assembly finds that the First Amendment of the United States Constitution 
robustly protects the right to speak without government interference, but not 
to compel others to speak, adopt, affirm, adhere to, or profess specific 
beliefs; and

Whereas, the General 
Assembly finds that the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution 
holds that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal 
protection of the law; and

Whereas, the General 
Assembly finds that Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 "promotes the 
desegregation of public schools and authorizes the U.S. Attorney General to 
file lawsuits to enforce the provisions of the Civil Rights Act. It defines 
'desegregation' as 'the assignment of students to public schools and within 
such schools without regard to their race, color, religion, or national 
origin,' thereby removing government-sanctioned racial discrimination in 
schools and implementing the Supreme Court's holding in Brown [v. 
Board of Education] that racial separation is a violation of the Equal 
Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment"; and

Whereas, the General 
Assembly finds that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 holds that: "No 
person in the United States shall, on the grounds of race, color, or national 
origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be 
subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal 
financial assistance"; and

Whereas, the General 
Assembly finds that an example of how postsecondary institutions are compelling 
certain speech and beliefs among employees about racial issues is that nearly 
one-fifth of the jobs in higher education require applicants to write a diversity 
statement pledging their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), 
according to an American Enterprise Institute report from November 2021; and

Whereas, the General 
Assembly finds that in a study of sixty-five universities representing sixteen 
percent of all students at four-year universities, researchers found that these 
schools employed an average of forty-five staff members to carry out DEI activities, 
which are activities that further discrimination, exclusion, and 
indoctrination. Research finds that the presence and size of DEI offices are 
unrelated to student satisfaction at these postsecondary institutions; and

Whereas, the General 
Assembly finds that peer-reviewed studies have found that DEI training programs 
are ineffective at reducing bias and that such programs "in general, do not 
change people." In some cases, the training has led to increased reported levels 
of resentment, as well as reducing participants' likelihood of assuming 
responsibility for "avoiding discrimination"; and

Whereas, the General 
Assembly finds that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that colleges may not use race 
or racial stereotypes as the basis in college admissions; and

Whereas, the General 
Assembly finds that according to Speech First, forty-five percent of all 
private colleges and fifty-five percent of public colleges operate a 
bias-reporting system that encourages individuals on campus to report someone 
else's First Amendment-protected speech, reports that trigger burdensome and 
unfair university investigations. The U.S. Department of Justice issued a 
statement of interest in 2018 against the University of Michigan's "Bias 
Response Team" saying that such a policy "chills protected speech"; and

Whereas, the General 
Assembly finds that the U.S. Department of Justice has also stated: "Freedom of 
speech and expression on the American campus are under attack." Surveys find 
that eighty percent of students practice self-censorship "at least part of the 
time" and that sixty percent of students "have at some point felt they couldn't 
express an opinion for fear of how students, professors, or college 
administrators might respond"; and

Whereas, the General 
Assembly finds that accrediting agencies should not consider the existence of 
discriminatory "racia