Experts defend diversity efforts after political attacks: 'This is about leveling the playing field'

A wave of attacks against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from conservative leaders in the U.S. has brought renewed attention to such efforts amid calls to ban DEI programs.

In recent months, Republicans have taken swipes at DEI initiatives. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has called such programs at educational institutions “hostile to academic freedom.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., criticized the state of Illinois for using federal funds to support DEI programs in elementary schools.

Some liberals have also criticized the latest DEI terminology intended to spur inclusion as sometimes alienating and performative.

Amid the polarizing effects of the conversation around DEI and its evolution, experts say the purpose of these initiatives and programs has been lost in politics and rhetoric. They explained to Yahoo News that DEI was not meant to be divisive, but was intended to level the playing field in an increasingly diverse but systematically fractured society — and they argue that it would be a mistake to eradicate such initiatives.

What does DEI mean?

DEI covers a broad spectrum of identities, including race, gender, ethnicity, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, physical appearance, neurodivergence, socioeconomic status, language, education and marital status. It also embraces diverse perspectives, ideas and values.

According to Academy Health, a research organization, equity is defined as “the fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all people, while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups.”

“Equity is those practices, policies and programs to ensure that people are treated fair and have an equal opportunity to succeed, regardless of who they are,” Rick Wade, senior vice president for strategic alliances and outreach at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told Yahoo News. “That's really important. You can't separate where we are with regards to diversity and equity without understanding the full context: that there have been some individuals in our society who have not necessarily been treated equitably.”

Academy Health defines inclusion as the act of “providing equal opportunity to all people to fully engage themselves in creating an environment and a cultural attitude whereby everyone and every group feels accepted, has value, and is supported by a foundation based on trust and mutual respect.”

“When we talk about inclusion, we're making the point that when we think about diversity, diversity has been shown in some small group studies to improve outcomes,” Sarah Soule, a professor who teaches organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is the school’s senior associate dean for academic affairs, told Yahoo News.

“But it really only works if everybody feels like they're included in the decision making and that they are, in a sense, not just invited to the party, but they're invited to dance at the party. It's one thing if you just target numbers, but if you bring a diverse group of people together, how do you make sure that everybody feels included and that they can bring their best selves to work?”

Where did DEI originate?

DEI was born in the 1960s during the civil rights movement, spurred by the introduction of equal opportunity laws, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and affirmative action.

“A lot of early programs were focused mostly on thinking about diversity,” Soule explained. “How do we increase diversity, whether we're thinking about race, religion, sexual orientation, gender and so on? Coming out of the 1960s was this idea of affirmative action and attempts to issue some quotas at firms. That was kind of challenged in 1978 by the Bakke decision.”

In that decision, the Supreme Court essentially upheld affirmative action but determined that racial quotas were unconstitutional.

During the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, according to the Greenlining Institute, tolerance, defined as “restrained acceptance” of the integration of workplaces, schools and communities, was the focal point around early initiatives. From the mid-1970s into the 1990s, this expanded to incorporate multiculturalism — recognizing, respecting and celebrating the achievements of various racial and ethnic minorities.

What’s the controversy behind DEI?

In late January, DeSantis — a possible 2024 presidential contender who has a history of challenging educational institutes and who recently banned the College Board’s Advanced Placement high school course in African American studies in Florida — announced a proposal to eliminate what he called “ideological conformity.”

His plan targets DEI programs in Florida’s higher education system. DeSantis blamed the initiatives for draining resources and driving costs up. Under his proposal, there would be mandated courses in Western civilization and the protections of tenure would be limited.

The governor’s office, in a press release, called out DEI programs for being discriminatory and vowed to push back against “the tactics of liberal elites who suppress free thought in the name of identity politics and indoctrination.” He also voted to ban universities from funding the programs, even if the money isn’t coming from the state.

“That’s not what we believe is appropriate for the state of Florida,” DeSantis said on Jan. 31 during an appearance at the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, one of Florida’s publicly funded state and community colleges.

“This idea of academic freedom and censorship versus DEI is really a misguided conversation,” Soule said. “I think this is a symptom of polarization. And whether we think about it as liberal [or] conservative, or this current debate on many college campuses about academic freedom versus DEI, this kind of absolutism and this polarization leads people to incredible intolerance.”

During a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing last week, Greene, the Georgia Republican, claimed, erroneously, that the state of Illinois used $5.1 billion in COVID-19 federal relief funds to teach critical race theory (CRT) and push equity and diversity initiatives at the elementary school level.

In questioning Gene Dodaro, the comptroller general of the U.S. and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Greene asked him if federal funding had been used to fund abortion services or drag queen story hours for kids.

Conservatives and some liberals have also called out the evolution of terminology — shifting "Latino" to "Latinx," "homeless" to "houseless," "breastfeeding" to "chestfeeding," "women" to "bodies with vaginas" — calling it confusing, alienating and performative, rather than addressing the country's inequities. They argue that the ever-changing language used in some DEI spaces expands the divide between college-educated liberals and the 62% of Americans who don’t hold a bachelor’s degree.

“Rather than both sides kind of accepting that we are all kind of muddling through, there's this sort of throwing stones and saying, ‘I'm sorry, you just used Latino and now you should be using Latinx,’ when, in fact, many Spanish-speaking people say, ‘No, actually Latino is the generic gender version,’” Soule explained. “It's easier for many people to just villainize somebody than it is to sit down, have a discussion [and] do the work of organizational and institutional change.”

According to a recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll, about 50% of Americans would allow DEI training rather than ban it (25%). Another 25% say they are not sure. The contrast is even wider when broken down by political party: About 75% of Democrats would allow it, versus only 33% of Republicans. About 44% of Republicans said they would ban DEI training, compared with 10% of Democrats.

“I don't know where the harm is,” Wade said. “If you just look at the workforce, the growing number of women and underrepresented communities, whether they're African American and Latino, these are our workers of the future, as America has been changing demographically. This is about making sure that these individuals have the skills to compete for the jobs of the future. That points to the business case, the economic case, as to why this work is so important.

“We're not taking from Peter to give to Jamal. This is about leveling the playing field so that everybody has a chance to succeed and to be competitive, not just in the workforce, but to live out their own individual American dream.”

How DEI has evolved since its origins

After the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and the United States’ reckoning with racial injustice, major corporations and Big Tech established DEI programs to combat systemic racism.

Some companies have moved to change the makeup of their C-suites by hiring more diverse candidates to fill a void in their decision making. Other companies and government entities have poured money into DEI-driven initiatives, such as progressive movements and homeownership programs, or have donated to historically Black colleges and universities.

“Since 2020 and the murder of George Floyd, certainly the awareness and the visibility of the work has been heightened,” Wade said. “But I would say also, with a number of major events across American history, all of them individually and collectively continue to raise the awareness of the challenges that exist [in] building a more equitable and inclusive America.”

He added, “Some 63% of S&P 500 companies have chief diversity officers or some type of diversity practitioner at a high level, and that's all happened within the last several years. So I think companies are demonstrating that this is a priority, by at least designating and naming and appointing executives within the company to lead this work.”

According to a recent study by Revelio Labs, a company that analyzes workforce data, the top industries for DEI team growth are oil and gas, education program administration, business associations and professional organizations. But in the oil and gas industry the growth of DEI roles has stagnated, with no increase in the numbers of nonwhite males on staff in the last three years.

Additionally, the report found that DEI roles have had significantly higher attrition than non-DEI ones. At more than 600 U.S. companies that have laid off workers since late 2020, turnover rates for DEI roles have outpaced those of non-DEI roles and have accelerated in the last six months.

“What I have seen happen, certainly at the university level, is that there's just a lot of people who are completely burned out,” Soule lamented, “some even kind of feeling disenchanted with the whole sort of movement, if you will.

“One of my biggest worries about DEI efforts," she continued, "are both the backlash that we've talked about, but then this high level of burnout, too, because having both of those at the same time is really potentially very harmful to DEI efforts.”

DEI experts warn companies, institutions and individuals against backsliding — retreating to established routines and relying on segregated personal networks — as a result of the backlash and burnout.

“There is a moral case for this, that it's the right thing to do: to create environments where it reflects the diversity of America, where people have an equal shot to succeed, and people feel like they belong,” Wade said. “That just makes sense.”