Companies have been quietly and loudly rolling back their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies for more than a year now, but this week could mark the beginning of a new battle in the war over DEI in corporate America.
On the heels of a January executive order ending DEI across the federal government, President Donald Trump sent a follow-up missive designed to increase scrutiny over those practices in the private sector. Federal agencies were given 120 days to work with the Attorney General to identify up to nine organizations with the “most egregious and discriminatory DEI practitioners” that would make them eligible for civil compliance investigations. The types of organizations targeted could include publicly traded companies, large nonprofits and foundations, and institutes of higher education with sizable endowments, among others.
