Kentucky passed a law banning DEI at public universities. The governor signed it. Republicans took a victory lap. And Western Kentucky University’s School of Social Work said “that’s cute” and kept teaching it anyway — because an accreditation board in Washington told them to.
We know this because a WKU staffer named Bailey Cooke looked directly into a hidden camera and told them. On video. That she apparently didn’t realize was rolling. Incredible work, Bailey.
Accuracy in Media — the outfit run by Adam Guillette that’s been sending undercover investigators into universities like health inspectors into a Chinatown buffet — released the footage. In the video, Cooke, an office associate for WKU’s School of Social Work, casually explains to an investigator posing as a prospective student that yes, DEI is baked right into the program prerequisites. It’s required. It’s not going anywhere.
Her exact words: “We’re accredited by the CSWE, which is the Council on Social Work Education. If you go to a college that has a Social Work program that is accredited by the CSWE, yes — it’s in their curriculum standards that we teach about ADEI: antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
ADEI. They added a letter. That’s the rebrand. They literally took DEI, slapped an “A” for “antiracism” on the front like a spoiler on a Honda Civic, and called it a new program.
But here’s the part that should have every Kentucky taxpayer reaching for their pitchfork. When asked about the state law — you know, the one their elected representatives passed specifically to stop this garbage — Cooke waved it off like a parking ticket. “That doesn’t have anything to do with what the government would like us to do,” she said. “We are literally required in order to maintain our accreditation.”
Read that again. A state employee, at a state-funded university, in a state that passed a law banning this exact thing, just told you on camera that some unelected accreditation bureaucracy in D.C. outranks your state legislature. The government said stop. The university said “we don’t answer to the government.” And YOUR tuition dollars and tax money are funding the whole operation.
So who is this CSWE outfit that apparently has veto power over Kentucky state law? The Council on Social Work Education is the largest accreditor of social work programs in America — over 900 programs nationwide. Their current guidelines, last updated in 2022, require schools to demonstrate “specific and continuous efforts” to promote their DEI curriculum. Not suggest. Not encourage. Require. And they’re not planning to update those guidelines until 2029.
That’s right — 2029. Four more years of mandatory indoctrination before they’ll even consider changing the paperwork. A spokesperson named Matt Hooper told The College Fix that CSWE “has not and will not ask any program or individual to break any laws” — and then in the next breath admitted they’re “working with programs individually” in states with DEI bans to figure out how to keep teaching the same material without technically getting busted.
That’s not compliance. That’s a consulting service for how to dodge the law.
Guillette nailed the diagnosis in an interview with The College Fix. “We see this in nearly every state that has banned DEI,” he said. The problem? “These laws were horribly written.” Kentucky’s House Bill 4 prohibits universities from spending money on DEI offices and programs, and bars them from forcing employees to endorse specific ideologies. Sounds tough. But it doesn’t touch the curriculum itself. Professors can still preach that America is systemically racist in every single class — math included — and technically stay within the letter of the law.
So the legislature built a fence, but forgot to put a gate on the side where all the actual teaching happens. Brilliant.
And WKU isn’t the only school playing this game. Accuracy in Media caught a Northern Kentucky University employee on camera saying the exact same thing — their social work program requires DEI coursework because CSWE says so. Two universities. Two videos. Same script. Almost like it’s a coordinated thing.
The College Fix reached out to WKU’s media relations office. Twice. Asked them about the video, asked about compliance with the law. WKU’s response? Silence. Not a denial. Not an explanation. Not a “we’re looking into it.” Just… nothing. They ghosted a reporter asking whether they’re following state law.
When a university won’t even pretend to answer the question, you know what the answer is.
This is the scam we’ve been warning about since the first DEI ban passed. The universities never intended to comply. They just waited for the press cycle to move on and then kept doing exactly what they were doing, with a slightly different acronym on the letterhead. ADEI instead of DEI. Same professors. Same readings. Same “America is systemically racist” curriculum. Same bill to the taxpayer.
The fix here isn’t complicated. State legislatures need to go back and close the curriculum loophole — if you’re a public university taking public money, you don’t get to outsource your compliance decisions to an accreditation board that doesn’t answer to voters. And any accreditation body that requires schools to break state law should lose its recognition. Period.
But we also need to tip our hats to Accuracy in Media, because without those undercover cameras, we’d still be getting lied to. The universities would still be issuing press releases about how they’ve “fully complied” with the new law while teaching the same DEI garbage behind closed doors. Guillette says parents are “furious” when they find out their tuition money is still funding this stuff. Good. They should be.
Bailey Cooke did us all a favor. She said the quiet part out loud, on camera, to a stranger she’d never met. The law doesn’t matter. The accreditation board runs the show. Your elected officials can pass whatever they want — the university answers to Washington, not Frankfort.
At least now we have the receipts.