Under the Trump Administration, the federal government issued an order that placed all staff for DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs and offices on paid leave effective on Jan. 23.
According to AP News on Jan. 4, Trump gave the executive branch departments and agencies 60 days to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs including all “Chief Diversity Officer” jobs, “equity action plans” and “environmental justice” positions.
In his first 3 days in office, President Donald J. Trump signed a record number of executive orders. These orders included policies about diversity & transgender rights, immigration, international affairs, and climate change.
Along with policy changes, according to PBS on Jan. 22, federal agencies also canceled DEI-related training and ended any related contracts.
According to the Wall Street Journal on Jan. 30, Trump has his administration officials pressing federal agencies to dig deeper to find diversity workers to push out of the government. Already the Department of Veteran Affairs said that nearly 60 people were put on paid leave as of Jan. 30.
Political Science professor Dr. Robert Amyot discussed the long-term impacts of DEI, saying “DEI efforts include trying to make the workplace more open to all types of minorities. And so we needed DEI efforts to make people aware of things like innate bias and systems that end up hurting certain groups. A more diverse workforce is a better workforce in terms of having access to more ideas and to better understand the clients.”
Hastings College Chaplain Doodle Harris shared that she “hope[s] the federal government continues to value a difference of opinions, appearance, and ideals.”
DEI efforts at the federal government level are out; however, some private-sector organizations still have DEI efforts.
According to Forbes on Feb. 11, companies such as Apple and Costco have remained committed to their DEI programs. However, other companies like Google and Amazon have decided to follow the federal government and remove their DEI programs.
While it is inconclusive as to how these changes affect Hastings College and its students, more updates following these changes Trump Administration will hopefully answer some questions that people still have.