In 2024, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at several of the nation’s largest companies came undone as prominent figures like Elon Musk voiced their disapproval. And it looks like the trend of coming for the programs will continue in 2025.
According to NBC News, major companies like Toyota, Lowe’s, Ford and Walmart lessened or completely gutted their DEI programs. Social-media campaigns, like the one orchestrated by Robby Starbuck, also played a part in these decisions.
This trend also affected several states regarding their college admissions process. States like Iowa, Utah and Alabama joined Texas and Florida by getting rid of DEI offices in their public universities. Three others states — Kansas, Indiana, and Idaho — banned colleges from requiring diversity statements in hiring and admissions.
Following George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020, there was a vast call for nationwide diversity efforts in the midst of a momentous social justice movement. However, President-elect Donald Trump and his administration have pledged to completely do away with federally funded diversity programs.
As reported by Reuters, Trump admitted as much in a July campaign video when he said he would direct the Justice Department to pursue civil rights investigations into universities that were seized by the “radical left.”
“We are going to get this anti-American insanity out of our institutions once and for all,” Trump said in the clip.
Vice President-elect JD Vance ran with this sentiment when he co-introduced the Dismantle DEI Act in June, as he called DEI “a destructive ideology that breeds hatred and racial division.”
At the end of his first presidential term in 2020, Trump signed an executive order barring federal DEI programs. However, President Joe Biden reversed the decision when he took office shortly after.
Though Trump has threatened to rescind federal funding and accreditation of universities and colleges that do not abide by his rules, he would still face significant legal challenges.
However, Trump remains determined to scrap diversity reporting requirements and use civil rights enforcement mechanisms to combat diversity initiatives he views as “discrimination.”