CURTIS HILL: DEI is bad for the Black community. Merit is key for Black achievement
The ESPN commentator told Trump that the aggressive rollback of DEI programs has produced an unintended side effect: Private corporations are growing hesitant to support historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Key points
- Federal agencies have terminated or paused some research awards and outreach efforts involving HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions after determining that they conflicted with administration priorities or anti-DEI directives.
- STEPHEN A SMITH DEFENDS WHITE HOUSE DINNER WITH TRUMP The practical result risks becoming a de facto hands-off policy toward Black institutions, even when the stated motive is colorblindness or risk avoidance.
- OBAMA-APPOINTED JUDGE CLEARS WAY FOR WHITE EMPLOYEE TO CHALLENGE SEATTLE'S DEI POLICIES Companies and universities that adopted these systems after 2020 often did so under intense social and reputational pressure, not because rigorous analysis showed they improved performance or expanded genuine opportunity.
Opposition to DEI programs that impose racial quotas, "check-the-box" hiring or the elevation of identity over competence is not anti-Black.
Additional details
- Corporate shareholder proposals seeking disclosure of the actual return on DEI spending — including net present value, litigation risk and opportunity costs — have been necessary correctives.
- Donors fear that a gift once viewed as ordinary philanthropy will now be read as a DEI initiative, inviting government scrutiny or accusations of engaging in racial preferences.
- ELI STEELE: CALIFORNIA FORCES COMPANIES TO MINE THE PAST FOR SLAVERY'S SINS Conservatives and free-market advocates who oppose DEI must make this distinction clear.
- HBCUs have long played an outsized role in educating Black professionals and creating pathways into engineering, medicine, education, business and other fields.
- Black Americans, like every other group, benefit when talent, capital and institutions can connect without artificial barriers or artificial preferences.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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