Faculty members across the state are considering leaving Alabama due to concerns about salary and a new anti-DEI law.
About 29% of Alabama professors who responded to a recent survey have applied to jobs outside of the state, according to the American Association of University Professors. This reflects a national trend among higher education in the South.
“I am about to leave the school and move to a position in a new, blue state due to the overall political climate in Alabama,” one survey respondent said. “I conduct government funded research and am taking my grants with me, costing the school hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Many of the 88 survey respondents mentioned SB 129, the so-called “anti-DEI” legislation. Starting Oct. 1, no state institution can use public funding for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Gender, race, and sexual orientation are considered “divisive concepts.” The law also mandates people use bathrooms according to their biological sex.
