Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton led thousands from across the country Thursday for March on Wall Street in protest of the Trump administration's withdrawal from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs three values that the president and his followers have eschewed. The massive Lower Manhattan march, coinciding with the 62nd anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous March on Washington in 1963, kicked off from Foley Square on the 62nd anniversary of the March on Washington.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has faced a lot of backlash recently. Once celebrated as a win-win solution that tackled systemic injustice and boosted business performance, DEI has become politicized and scrutinized within an inch of its life. As it was happening, those of us working to advance DEI didn't adjust as the ground shifted beneath our feet. DEI was recast as an anti-meritocratic overreach that prioritized identity over skills or qualifications.
The order, which Trump is expected to sign on Monday, his first day in office, will direct the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management to coordinate with agencies to terminate all DEI programs in federal agencies, including environmental justice programs, equity related grants, equity action plans and equity initiatives, the official said.
As we approach the beginning of the new school year, first-year student orientations take place on college campuses to help students prepare academically, integrate into the institution's values and traditions, and build community. During orientation for first-year psychology doctoral students at my institution, I was immediately struck by the small number of Black students. Out of 34 first-year students, there appeared to be only one Black student, representing 2 percent of the cohort. The optics to me were quite alarming.
A new report from The Conference Board shows a sharp decline in usage of 'diversity,' 'racial,' 'gender,' or 'DEI.' Over a third of S&P 100 companies have stopped using the term 'equity' altogether.
"Any businesses that are looking for FCC approval, I would encourage them to get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination," Carr told Bloomberg in an interview.
This week's letter described the results of that internal review. 'First, the handful of T-Mobile employees who focused on diversity and inclusion will be redirected within Human Resources to focus on employee culture and engagement,' Nelson wrote in the letter to Carr.
James Ryan declared that while he was committed to the university and inclined to fight, he could not in good conscience push back just to save his job.
It begs the question, what does DEI mean to the issuers of this notice? Does it mean the term 'structural racism'? Does it mean 'Black Americans'? Does it mean that we can no longer do rigorous science to really understand why the devastating burden of health disparities exist in this country and around the globe?
"I think some brands are still confusing DEI with diversity," says Edgar Hernandez... marketing to diverse audiences isn't about politics. It's about growth."
"Research projects with more narrow impact limited to subgroups of people based on protected class or characteristics do not effectuate NSF priorities," the agency's director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, wrote.
That's it's astonishing, not surprising. Of course, they don't like the fact that we're ripping DEI out of the military and making it colorblind and merit-based.