DEI’s Latest Chapter

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Jason Burkett
February 14, 2025

Executive Order 14151, titled “ENDING RADICAL AND WASTEFUL GOVERNMENT DEI PROGRAMS AND PREFERENCING,” went into effect on January 20th, 2025. This executive order instructs: 

“…the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”

As this order is carried out across the federal government, public administrators may find themselves reflecting on recent DEI trends and decisions.

According to Pew Research, on the eve of the election, less than 1 in 5 U.S. workers objected to how DEI was playing out in their work environment, while 17 percent weren’t sure, and the strong majority (64 percent) felt DEI efforts were sufficient or could even be enhanced. While these views did appear to be shifting away from supporting DEI initiatives in the workplace by October 2024 (for example, only 14 percent of U.S. workers felt that their company or organizations were paying too much attention to DEI in February 2023 against the 19 percent who said so just before the election) it is clear that the majority of U.S. workers were comfortable with how their companies and organizations were treating DEI initiatives when this executive order was issued.

In a different context, support for DEI initiatives is far lower. The June 2023 Supreme Court opinion in favor of Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. changed the way many higher education institutions could promote diversity, equity, and inclusion by prohibiting the consideration of race in college and university admissions. In the 6-3 opinion Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority: 

“To achieve the educational benefits of diversity, respondents measure the racial composition of their classes using racial categories that are plainly overbroad (expressing, for example, no concern whether South Asian or East Asian students are adequately represented as “Asian”); arbitrary or undefined (the use of the category “Hispanic”); or underinclusive (no category at all for Middle Eastern students).

A Gallup survey conducted a few months later found that 68 percent of Americans considered the Supreme Court’s decision mostly a good thing. This finding continued a decades-long trend of approximately 70 percent of Americans preferring that college and university admissions be based Solely on merit as opposed to the view that a student’s Racial/Ethnic background should be considered (steadily held by approximately 28 percent of Americans). The distribution of American views on this topic is strikingly consistent given the myriad of events that have occurred since 2003 that have brought DEI to the forefront of the cultural dialogue.

Notably, the Students for Fair Admissions decision exempted military academies from its ruling, calling attention to another area of our society where DEI initiatives have been in effect. An amicus brief signed by 35 retired generals and admirals, including former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, may have influenced this exemption. One section of this brief is titled, “U.S. military diversity initiatives have led to significant progress in growing a highly qualified and racially diverse officer corps, but this work must continue.” This brief also relies on 2020 research from Greenwood et al., that highlights findings such as “…the benefits of female leadership for young women working at firms”, “…academic performance is higher when students share race with teachers”, and “…legal scholars have found higher incarceration rates among defendants paired with judges of a different race”. 

Though the military leaders who signed this amicus brief may have temporarily secured an exemption to the Supreme Court ruling for military academies, another executive order issued on January 27, 2025 ends it. Titled RESTORING AMERICA’S FIGHTING FORCE, the executive order eliminates “every DEI office” in the U.S. military and orders that military academies “shall be required to teach that America and its founding documents remain the most powerful force for good in human history” and prohibits military academics from promoting the idea “that America’s founding documents are racist or sexist.”

The last few years have shown a range of views and decisions related to DEI initiatives in our workplaces, our learning institutions, and our military. As these new executive orders go into effect, public administrators would do well to carry forward the irrefutable lessons learned about our shared humanity from the chapter of DEI now ending.

One example comes from an upcoming article in the Journal of College Science Teaching. An evaluation of students in courses where instructors participated in the Institute for Inclusive Teaching found that a personalized, inclusive teaching statement read on the first day of class was associated with positive impacts on factors related to educational success. These impacts include heightened classroom connection, engagement, motivation, perceived learning, and reduced stress levels among students of all genders and races (Reid, J.J, Ahmadian, M., Johnson, A., Jennings, D. & Golding, S, 2025 – forthcoming).

Findings like this make clear that public administrators can still use their voices to promote the equal dignity and respect (the preferred language in the executive orders) of those touched by their work as this new chapter of American history begins.

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Author: Jason Burkett, MPP is a Senior Consultant with the Center for Public Policy in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. His work includes public policy research & evaluation, strategic planning, and economic impact analysis, primarily conducted for state government agencies and Virginia’s General Assembly.

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