February 19 meeting: Why the backlash against DEI?

 In recent years, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has become an integral part of life in business, government, and education. Now it has produced a widespread backlash. What is going on?

At our February 19 meeting, we will discuss what DEI has accomplished and what has not. Has it produced the results that its proponents have hoped for? Do the problems lie in the way the D, the E, or the I have been interpreted? To what extent does resistance stem not from DEI itself, but from DEI training?

Please bring your opinions, and especially, your own experience with DEI at institutions where you have been active. Here are some readings to get you started:

• A local perspective: How the work around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging has changed in northern Michigan (Craig Manning, Northern Express)
• A strong defense of DEI: Trump’s Actions on DEI Are an Attack on Black America (Keith Boykin, Substack)
• Why DEI has both conservative and progressive critics: Trump’s DEI Crackdown Is a Bad Solution to a Real Problem (Cathy Young, Bulwark)
• DEI in the corporate world: Some Corporate Leaders go Underground with DEI (Emma Goldberg, NYT)
• A meta-analysis of academic research asks why DEI training is so often found to be ineffective and sometimes counterproductive.  Why Doesn’t Diversity Training Work? (Anthropology Today)
• A company whose business is DEI training offers its views on what works and what does not  Why Even Good People Don’t Like DEI Training (Freedom Lifted)
• A union perspective: Why some on the left disapprove of DEI. (NYT)