LOCAL & STATE
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Is In Jeopardy
John Neal
Illustration. The Oklahoma Eagle
The backlash against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is coming on strong.
The naysayers, including conservative ideologues, call it “Divide, Exclude, and Indoctrinate.” Colleges and universities are being denied use of it. Employers are laying off thousands who teach it. Public schools are losing funding to support it.
This is the story of the rise and recent decline of the set of values that have provided the tools to marginalized minorities to compete in education and to succeed in the work force. The set of values is “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” commonly known as DEI.
Programs to teach and train DEI, widely used to root out bias in public education and the workplace, is under attack in Oklahoma and all over the U.S. Encouraged by the June 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action, the radical right is making this anti-discriminatory effort its next target. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs are being eradicated or curtailed nationwide.
Several high-profile Oklahomans have jumped onto the anti-DEI train. On Dec. 15, 2023, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an Executive Order prohibiting DEI in state universities and agencies. School Superintendent Ryan Walters is urging the adoption of a new “administrative rule” by the Oklahoma State Board of Education (OSBE) to outlaw DE&I programs in public schools. Private sector employers are eliminating anti-bias workplace efforts – including some started just a couple of years ago – out of fear the U.S. Supreme Court has targeted DEI programs for elimination.
DEI Basics
A variety of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) programs rapidly arose in public institutions and private sector employment in the wake of racially motivated violence and movement protests during the last two decades. The program aims to create bias-free environments, where historically marginalized minorities have an equal opportunity to succeed.
DEI seeks to safeguard the treatment of minorities from the point of recruitment and application through retention and promotion in employment, education, and other social or economic arenas. Its central features, as crafted from multiple sources and paraphrased by The Oklahoma Eagle, are the following:
- Diversity – Ensuring that the widest variety of people is represented by race, ethnicity, gender, age, (dis)ability, nationality, sexual orientation, etc.
- Equity – Providing fair and just treatment of disadvantaged minorities to enable equal opportunity and equitable outcomes.
- Inclusion – Offering beyond diverse representation to ensure group acceptance and mechanisms for achieving contributions from all identities.
The primary purpose and goal of DEI programs is well described in the University of Oklahoma DEI Executive Summary Plan. They are “to support a more diverse, equitable and inclusive culture” with positive “institutional outcomes.”
Proponents of DEI reject critics’ claims that the program carves out special privileges for minorities. “DEI offices are not and have never been an instrument to promote one race or gender or sexual orientation above another,” said Courtney Avant, legislative counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ rights nonprofit. “They have been a critical tool to address inequality and discrimination.” Avant made the statement in the Austin American-Statesman concerning similar DEI prohibitions in Texas.
Colleges and universities
America’s 4,700 colleges and universities receiving federal funds were initially slow to take up the civil rights challenge mandated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But over time, higher education has played a leading role in promoting civil rights and efforts to address systemic racism, first through affirmative action and later through DEI programs.
DEI programs began to proliferate on campuses. In many cases, they anchored civil rights initiatives in most colleges and universities in the 2010s and 2020s. In Oklahoma, an Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education report submitted to the Governor’s office in February 2023 traced DEI higher education expenditures back to 2013, which increased to an outlay of $10 million in fiscal year 2022-23.
Oklahoma’s two major universities, the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, also employ approximately 75 DEI employees at multiple campuses around the state.
However, support for DEI in colleges and universities could suddenly change in Oklahoma and elsewhere as attacks on the program continue to come from Republican-dominated legislatures and state houses. The 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action was a significant turning point in the contemporary struggle for civil rights.
Gov. Stitt cited sections of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in his December 2023 Executive Order, effectively terminating DEI on nearly 50 state public higher education campuses. Stitt’s Order referenced Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion explaining the broad scope of the court’s intentions: “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.”
The implication in Stitt’s Order, and the opinion of other readers of the decision, is that the Supreme Court is poised to strike down other civil rights initiatives affirming protection for minorities. The court decision could affect not just college admission prospects for historically disadvantaged Blacks but also strengthen and accelerate the broader effort to deny minorities full participation in society safeguarded by other affirmative civil rights efforts.
In a December 2023 letter to the OU community, OU President Joseph Harroz, announced the university was “obligated to comply with the governor’s executive order,” but nevertheless expressed “an unyielding dedication to the principles that have always defined us.” According to the school website, OU-Tulsa has more than 1,300 students and “500 community affiliations” among state university DEI offices closing.
State action. Public schools.
From a legal perspective, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision was a turning point for DEI, but Republican legislatures and state houses had already targeted DEI programs. The Chronicles of Higher Education wrote in an updated publication on July 14, 2023, that it was “tracking 40 bills in 22 states” that would prohibit DEI programs, at least seven of which have “final legislative approval.” In Oklahoma, St. Sen. Rob Standridge, (R-Norman), filed four bills in December proposing to expand Stitt’s Executive Order, taking legislative aim at DEI.
In April 2023, at an OSBE meeting, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Walters demanded Oklahoma public schools report all existing and planned DEI expenditures by Sept. 1, 2023. Walters claimed DEI “forces radical ideologies on students.” Then Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Gist filed a preliminary report stating that Tulsa Public Schools had “spent $0” on DEI. Walters cited the TPS report response in the July 2023 OSBE meeting as a reason to delay the Tulsa district’s accreditation and threaten a takeover.
The state board has yet to make public its findings from the schools’ survey on the DEI spending allegation made by Walters. Education Week’s Mark Lieberman told The Oklahoma Eagle its May 2023 Open Records Request seeking the information garnered little response from the state education agency. OSDE’s Director of Communications, Dan Isett, has yet to respond to a similar request for information on state school DEI spending made by The Oklahoma Eagle.
Both the Tulsa and Oklahoma City school districts, the largest and most diverse in the state, have denied having DEI programs. This apparent lack of programs or spending on DEI in Oklahoma’s public schools did not deter Walters from informing the state board in its December meeting that he would seek to enact an “administrative rule” prohibiting DEI programs in state schools.
Tulsa Public Schools has kept its support for the concepts underlying DEI programs. In a June letter, Gist told Walters in response to his “inflammatory declarations” that “Equity is our most closely held value.” In a December 2023 media release, new TPS Superintendent Ebony Johnson stated, “The diversity of our school district is something we celebrate every day in our classrooms and throughout our school communities. This diversity is a strength of our district and our city, contributing to their cultural richness and economic opportunities.”
Private sector support
DEI private sector training and development programs paralleled Black Lives Matter activities in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s killing and other racially motivated violence but exploded with George Floyd’s murder. In a September 2021 survey conducted by WorldatWork, DEI programs had surged when “More than eight in ten (83%) of the 656 responding organizations say they have taken action on DEI initiatives in 2021, a 13-percentage point increase from 2020.”
Private employers also benefited from developing workplace cultures that preempted civil rights lawsuits. Additionally, McKinsey and Company has established clear links between employment diversity and higher business earnings.
However, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s announcement in January 2022 to reconsider affirmative action and the emergence of critics of DEI, the program began to lose its support in private employment. In the last half of 2022, Revelio Labs workforce analysis reported that in the private employment sector, “DEI roles are leaving companies almost twice as fast as non-DEI roles.”
The trend continued into 2023 and accelerated following the Supreme Court’s decision as companies came to fear reverse-discrimination lawsuits. This occurred even though employers and workers largely embraced DEI. A Pew Research Center survey in May 2023 found, ”A majority of workers say focusing on DEI is a good thing… and workers tend to see positive impact from policies and resources associated with DEI where they work.”
In Tulsa, the Chamber’s Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Jonathon Long, told The Oklahoma Eagle, “The Tulsa Regional Chamber recognizes the positive value and impact of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We stand committed to creating a thriving, inclusive business ecosystem that fuels Tulsa’s growth and prosperity.”
The Tulsa Regional Chamber has a DEI community development initiative dubbed Mosaic. This coalition of companies and non-profit organizations “helps educate, lead and influence businesses on creating diverse workforces and inclusive workplaces to enhance their competitive advantage.” Mosaic has over 70 members in the Tulsa area.
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