On Jan. 22, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order terminating DEI preferencing for all federal-related work. Now, companies are scrambling to figure out how they will go forward with the news and whether they will apply it or not.
DEI, implemented in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson, stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEI was created so that government employers were required to hire the best-suited applicant, regardless of their race, religion, sex, or any other attribute that has historically been discriminated against. President Trump says that DEI has proven to be discriminatory, counterproductive, and too democratic, hence his endorsement of ending the long-standing policy. The president threatened colleges with federal funding, saying that if they kept the diversity programs in place, they would face fines “up to the entire amount of their endowment.”
Trump ordered government agencies to place all DEI office staffers on paid leave until further notice and to take down all DEI-focused websites by 5:00 PM on Jan. 29. The White House also forced employers to cancel any future DEI training. Any federal workers who suspect that DEI programs are still in effect under a different name are required to report to Trump’s Office of Personnel Management within ten days or they will face “adverse consequences.”
Some companies have already started to implement these new orders beginning in late 2024, after President Trump had won his second presidential term. Walmart, Target, and Amazon are among some of the largest retail companies in America that were the first to ditch DEI. Many upset Americans have taken to social media, where backlash has been particularly harsh on Target, with calls to boycott the company. Shaun Harper, a business and public policy professor at the University of Southern California, said, “Companies have been doing DEI on the cheap for years… they’ve been trying to do as little of it as possible, as inexpensively as possible… they’ve never been properly funded or staffed.”
Costco and Trader Joe’s, however, are among the few big companies holding firm on their commitment to keep their DEI programs in place. Both companies have made their stances clear on the debate and intend to keep applying the benefits that DEI offers. At the beginning of February, almost 20 Republican attorney generals urged Costco to remove their DEI policies, going against the company’s decision made by shareholders in an overwhelming majority to keep DEI.
President Trump’s Executive Order to end DEI once and for all has caused an uproar amongst the policy’s supporters and will likely stay a central topic of discussion until more companies are sure of the details and decide their course of action.
(Sources: AP, CNN, NY Times, SD Union-Tribune, Supermarket News, The White House)