Is DEI DOA? Diversity, equity and inclusion regime hit with backlash in ‘Oct. 8 effect’

The diversity, equity and inclusion framework that was all the rage four years ago is suddenly on the ropes.

DEI programs remain the rule rather than the exception in academia, government and business, but the social justice bureaucracy is in retreat as companies slash budgets, local governments reverse race-conscious public safety policies and states move to ban programs that promote racial division.

“DEI is on the run,” Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said Wednesday at an event titled “Seizing the Moment to Defeat DEI.”

“Everywhere you look, there are stories about how companies are ditching their DEI teams, how cities — even this leftist dystopia that we call Washington, D.C. — are abandoning laws that protect the criminal and leave the population defenseless,” Mr. Gonzalez said.

Last month, Zoom announced it would fire its DEI team and replace it with outside consultants to engage “all of our employees.” Other companies cutting their DEI staff as part of technology layoffs include Amazon, Meta, X, Snap, Tesla, DoorDash, Google and Lyft.

“DEI must DIE,” Elon Musk, owner of X and Tesla, posted on Dec. 15 on X. “The point was to end discrimination, not replace it with different discrimination.”

Democratic-run cities are reinvesting in law enforcement after embracing the “defund the police” mantra that accompanied the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and riots spurred by the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police.

Republican-led states are responding with legislation. At first, that meant approving bills to ban critical race theory. In the past year, a half-dozen state legislatures have passed measures to dismantle DEI, including by barring the teaching of “divisive concepts,” the promotion of racial preferences and the requirement that public employees and students sign diversity pledges.

“The leaders of cultural institutions were intimidated by the 2020 riots and implemented a raft of cultural changes that the American people are now rejecting,” Mr. Gonzalez said. “The American people are waking up to this threat that DEI poses to our freedoms, to our way of life, to our peace of mind, to our natural desire to have common national purposes and to our national security.”

“We have racially segregated affinity groups. We have racially segregated graduation ceremonies, segregated dorms on the basis of gender identity. What are you doing right now?” @nickineily

DEI is not a redeemable endeavor. pic.twitter.com/v5Ea6zotg3

— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) March 13, 2024

State lawmakers began seeking to dismantle race-focused curricula as early as 2021, but the anti-DEI push gained steam last year when the Supreme Court ruled Harvard University’s and the University of North Carolina’s race-based admissions criteria unconstitutional.

In January 2023, two conservative think tanks — the Goldwater Institute and the Manhattan Institute — released a blueprint for states to “abolish the DEI bureaucracy,” which became a model for anti-DEI legislation. Within months, Florida and Texas became the first states to sign anti-DEI bills into law.

“In the wake of their actions, DEI is on the defensive in states across the country, from Wisconsin to Iowa to Utah to Oklahoma, Arizona, and beyond,” Matt Beienburg, Goldwater Institute director of education policy, said in a March 8 post.

Then came what Mr. Gonzalez called “the Oct. 8 effect,” referring to the outcry over the grisly Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli civilians.

The ensuing pro-Palestinian demonstrations drew attention to the DEI’s categorization of people based on features such as race, ethnicity, sex and sexual orientation, as well as “oppressed” and “oppressor.” The protesters viewed Israelis as “oppressors,” even though they were victims of the terrorist massacre.

“The horrible reaction by some young people to the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel on Oct. 7 have woken up a lot of people to the fact that, well, perhaps it’s not a good idea to teach the young to look at all of life through the prism oppressed versus the oppressor,” Mr. Gonzalez said.

Leading DEI officials have also come under fire. This month, Dr. Sherita Golden resigned as Johns Hopkins Medicine’s chief diversity officer. Critics were outraged at her newsletter’s “hit list” of privileged groups, which included White people, men, Christians and English speakers.

Tirien Steinbach stepped down as Stanford Law School’s associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion in August. A few months earlier, she scolded 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Kyle Duncan, who was targeted by student protesters.

“This is certainly a wave crossing the nation. We used to call this bigotry, but now it’s inclusion,” said Edward E. Bartlett, president of SAVE, a nonprofit that promotes fairness and due process in schools. “The momentum continues to grow.”

DEI supporters aren’t taking the backlash lying down. After three Florida universities eliminated their DEI offices under the state’s 2022 Stop WOKE Act, the NAACP urged Black student-athletes to attend college elsewhere.

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion are paramount ensuring equitable and effective educational outcomes,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in statement Tuesday. “The value Black, and other college athletes bring to large universities is unmatched. If these institutions are unable to completely invest in those athletes, it’s time they take their talents elsewhere.”

Florida’s DEI programs were thrown a lifeline on March 4 when the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the 2022 law on First Amendment grounds. The law barred public workforce training based on the view that people are inherently racist or morally superior based on qualities such as race.

“This is not the first era in which Americans have held widely divergent views on important areas of morality, ethics, law, and public policy,” the court said. “But now, as before, the First Amendment keeps the government from putting its thumb on the scale.”

Such concerns haven’t deterred conservative backlash. In January, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox became the latest Republican governor to sign a bill that bans mandatory government and university DEI training and diverts funding “to help all Utah students succeed regardless of their background.”

“We’ve been concerned about some DEI programs and policies, particularly with hiring practices, and following the lead of other states that simply eliminated DEI funding with no alternative path for students who may be struggling,” Mr. Cox said in a statement.

Next is Alabama, where the Republican-controlled Legislature passed an anti-DEI bill last week. The measure, which now heads to Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, would ban public funding for DEI offices and prohibit public schools and the government from requiring DEI training or diversity statements.

The Republican-led Kentucky state Senate passed a bill to roll back DEI programs at public universities, but Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, has promised to veto the measure if it reaches his desk.

“DEI is not a four-letter word,” Mr. Beshear said in a March 5 speech outside the state Capitol in Frankfort. “DEI is a three-letter acronym for very important values that are found in our Bible. Diversity, equity and inclusion is about loving each other. It’s about living out the Golden Rule.”

The DEI industry has the resources to fight back. The U.S. market value, estimated at $9.3 billion in 2022, is expected to reach $15.4 billion by 2026, according to a February 2022 analysis by Global Industry Analysts.

Left-tilting media have sounded the alarm. The Jan. 30 New York Times article “Inside the Crusade Against D.E.I.” prompted a response from the National Diversity Council.

“DEI programs are about realizing the hallowed American dream,” council CEO Anika Rahman said in a letter to the editor. “It is a shame that conservative activists seek to shatter a bedrock principle of our nation: equality.”

Rep. Burgess Owens, Utah Republican, said he has no illusions about a quick victory. “This is a long-term fight,” he said, but he agreed that the timing is ideal to attack what he called the DEI “cancer.”

“We’re going to look back on 2024, and we’re going to say, ‘This was a miracle year because the American people woke up and got engaged, started asking questions, demanding answers, demanding truth,’” Mr. Owens said at the Heritage event. “That says a lot about who we are, and I think the time is so perfect to make that happen.”

• This article is based in part on wire service reports.