The DEI Deception
DEI isn’t gone—its proponents are rebranding it to bypass laws and Trump’s EO banning it.
Originally published in The Alabama Gazette
Hooray! We can all rejoice and rest easy! Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) has been eradicated, destroyed, shredded and stamped out across the land! Now we never have to worry about it again!
And if you truly believe that, I’ve got a bridge across Mobile Bay to sell you.
Yes, there’s been significant progress made against DEI. From the landmark SCOTUS ruling in Students for Fair Admissions vs Harvard to Alabama’s own anti-DEI law (SB129), to President Trump’s Day 1 Executive Order “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” the legal underpinnings of DEI have largely been swept away.
Across the business world, major companies are pulling back on their DEI initiatives. Harley-Davidson, Citigroup, PepsiCo, Jack Daniels, Target, WalMart, John Deere and Tractor Supply Co. have all felt the pinch of consumer pressure and “go woke, go broke.” A few, like Costco and Delta Airlines, are holding firm, but the tide has definitely turned—for now.
At the federal level, Hurricane Trump has been sweeping away DEI funding and personnel at a dizzying rate. Dismantling USAID and firing 2000 of its personnel was just one part of this. At the Pentagon, it’s out with the old focus on pronouns, out with the old diversity leadership, and in with new, mission focused people and policies.
Last week’s slashing of $600 million in Department of Education funding for teacher training in “social justice, activism,“ critical race theory and DEI ideology is another aspect of this administration’s shift away from DEI. This money was also intended to be used to train teachers in “anti-racism,” white privilege and white supremacy, as well as fund race-based staff recruiting strategies—and now it’s gone.
In Alabama, Governor Ivey signed SB129 in May 2024, with an effective date of October 1st. This law prohibits publicly-funded schools and universities from maintaining DEI offices, bans the teaching of “divisive concepts” and mandates only two types of toilets—male and female. So, DEI should already be dead in Alabama, right?
Suuuure it is. Now, here’s some pictures of this awesome bridge…
We expect our flagship institutions to lead the way in initiatives like this. Let’s look at what they actually did, shall we?
The UA System (UA, UAB, UAH) closed their DEI programs, but UA immediately opened the Division of Opportunities, Connections and Success. Oddly enough, this new office was headed by Christine Taylor (the previous Vice President of DEI.
UAB immediately opened the Office of Access and Engagement to “foster an accessible and welcoming culture,” through, among other things, “needs-based support.”
Auburn changed the name of the DEI Committee to the Committee of Access, Engagement and Opportunity, “responsible for promoting a culture of fairness, access, and representation across the University.” There’s even a markup PDF on the web where they literally lined out ”Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee” and typed in “Committee of Access, Engagement and Opportunity.”
This isn’t anywhere close to the spirit or letter of the law passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. It’s nothing more than changing the name to protect the guilty. It’s rebranding—nothing more, nothing less—and it’s become a niche industry for the Left.
This isn’t surprising to those of us who follow such things.
DEI programs had already started to move towards rebranding, due to local political pressures and a September 2020 EO signed by President Trump (it was later reversed by Biden). These efforts often pass a casual inspection, because the words sound so nice. “Supporting work focused on inclusion and belonging for all students” sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Of course it does—that’s why they changed the words! And because the words and phrases sound so good, most people just nod and don’t ask to see exactly what’s behind them.
Remember Non-Violent Conflict Resolution from years ago? Did you notice when it morphed into Social-Emotional Learning? I did, because I was in the thick of it, getting funny looks when I pointed out that one of its main goals was to force little boys to act like little girls. Look around, and tell me how well that worked out!
(Substack note: see HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE for some rather different takes on the educational differences between boys and girls.)
We know that those studies that showed such a great benefit from DEI in corporate America can’t be replicated (that’s a nice way of saying they were fudged, or bad studies). We know from a recent metaanalysis that DEI actually does more harm than good, in terms of causing negative feelings towards those who benefit from it. We’ve seen the results of years of pushing DEI in creating “DMV America”—“the combination of racial caste system and kakistocracy that the American regime is determined to erect in what was once the world’s proudest meritocratic society.”
Kakistocracy is government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state—and isn’t that what we’re seeing President Trump and DOGE unearthing every day in DC? Isn’t that what we’ve seen in corporate America? And isn’t that what we’re seeing our kids being set up for in our schools, SB129 be damned?
Here’s a question I’d really like to know the answer to: how many DEI personnel at UA, UAB, UAH or AU have been let go or transferred to other positions—not just changed letterheads and job titles? Any of them?
How about our other Universities? And what about in our K-12 schools?
I hope that our State Board of Education knows how “progressives” hate to give up their “progress” in programming our kids and young adults in DEI, SEL, CRT and all their other ideologies. I hope the BeeDee of EeeDee pays attention to the rebranding, and remembers that “a rose by any other name” definitely applies here.
Most of all, I hope the Board won’t let the State Department of Education and all the liberal Educrats get away with their shenanigans—especially when the federal Department of Education goes away and all that money starts flowing directly to the States.
Our kids deserve to be protected from DEI and all the rest, as SB129 was supposed to do. That needs to start in Montgomery, but ultimately it will take parents watching every local school board to see just how they’re trying to slip around SB129 with new words, new buzzwords and new job titles.
So no, DEI’s not gone. It’ll take years to dig it out by the roots.
Thankfully, we’ve got SB129 and President Trump’s EO to help us start digging.
Read SB129 as enacted: https://arc-sos.state.al.us/ucp/L1499133.AI1.pdf
Read President Trump’s Executive Order: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/
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