This time last year, big companies had begun backing away from efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in their ranks, otherwise known as DEI. Experts feared energy around the work, which swelled after George Floyd’s murder in 2020, was waning.
Since then, things have gotten even more complicated. In June, the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education, igniting opposition to DEI. Dozens of bills targeting DEI initiatives at public colleges are pending across the country, and there’s been a spike in litigation alleging that the methods private companies use to address inequality amounts to discrimination.
While there’s no clear consensus on how the court’s decision will affect the business world, Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind Tesla, SpaceX and other tech companies, tweeted this month that “DEI must die.” He added: “The point was to end discrimination, not replace it with different discrimination.” (Musk did not respond to requests for comment.)
Neal Katyal, a corporate lawyer who served in the Obama administration, said that lawsuits targeting diversity efforts seek “to push the law to ban all affirmative action, even though the court has not said anything like that.” Katyal is representing Hello Alice, a free online platform that helps businesses launch and grow, in a lawsuit aimed at blocking its grant program for Black-owned small businesses.
Growing pushback has some companies reframing their policies, and others axing programs as they look to avoid legal trouble. Experts say the debate around DEI is likely to intensify as the legal battle plays out in court and political tensions rise heading into the presidential election.
Here’s what you should know, and what changes might be around the corner, in 2024.
