Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed legislation Wednesday aimed at restricting public colleges from requiring students to take “DEI-CRT” courses. The law directs the Kansas Board of Regents to define the term by the end of July and requires institutions to apply the prohibition for the 2028-29 academic year. Critics say leaving “DEI-CRT” undefined creates uncertainty and risks censoring classroom discussion about race and gender. PEN America’s Freedom to Learn program urged a veto, warning it would limit how public institutions teach race and related topics. The statute allows exemptions for programs whose titles clearly establish the coursework as primarily focused on racial, ethnic, or gender studies. However, those exempt courses and programs cannot be required elsewhere by the college, adding compliance complexity for degree and program design. For institutions, the near-term task is to prepare for board-level definitional guidance while auditing program requirements for compliance, especially across general education and multidisciplinary offerings.