Jan 23, 2025 09:57 PM
(This post was last modified: Jan 23, 2025 10:39 PM by C C.)
NASA moves swiftly to end DEI programs, asks employees to “report” violations
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/01/na...iolations/
INTRO: NASA's acting administrator is moving swiftly to remove diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility—or DEIA—programs from the space agency.
In an email sent to agency employees on Wednesday afternoon, acting administrator Janet Petro wrote, "We are taking steps to close all agency DEIA offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump’s executive orders titled Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions."
During his run for a second term as president, Trump campaigned on ending programs in the federal government that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. He signed executive orders to that effect shortly after his inauguration on Monday.
Programs seen as divisive. These programs had their roots in affirmative action but exploded in popularity half a decade ago amid Trump's first presidency and the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements. DEI programs and officers became commonplace in academia and major US corporations. However, even before the election of Trump, the DEI movement appeared to have crested. For example, last year the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ended the use of diversity statements for faculty hiring.
In explaining NASA's position, Petro said of the agency's existing DEIA activities, "These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination."
Petro's email is notable for its suggestion that some civil servants at NASA may have sought to shroud DEIA programs from the Trump administration since the presidential election in early November... (MORE - details)
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Trump message to corporate America: Stop 'illegal' DEI or face investigations
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/202...882451007/
EXCERPT: Trump’s executive order aims to end diversity, equity and inclusion policies in the federal government and affirmative action in federal contracting. It bars the government from pushing contractors to diversify their workforce and taps federal agencies to use Civil Rights-era laws “to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs and activities.”
DEI policies “undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive and pernicious identity-based spoils system,” the order said.
The widely anticipated action to overturn decades of affirmative action and diversity precedent is expected to have an immediate chilling effect on corporate DEI efforts.
While the federal government does not have a direct say over the private sector’s diversity practices, it has wide purview over companies that depend on federal funding or hold government contracts.
"These actions freeze DEI operations in the federal government with the anticipation of the end of such programs," said Jonathan Butcher, a senior research fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.
"Corporations," he said, "should recognize that racial discrimination and racial preferences will no longer go unchallenged by Washington." (MORE - details)
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/01/na...iolations/
INTRO: NASA's acting administrator is moving swiftly to remove diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility—or DEIA—programs from the space agency.
In an email sent to agency employees on Wednesday afternoon, acting administrator Janet Petro wrote, "We are taking steps to close all agency DEIA offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump’s executive orders titled Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions."
During his run for a second term as president, Trump campaigned on ending programs in the federal government that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. He signed executive orders to that effect shortly after his inauguration on Monday.
Programs seen as divisive. These programs had their roots in affirmative action but exploded in popularity half a decade ago amid Trump's first presidency and the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements. DEI programs and officers became commonplace in academia and major US corporations. However, even before the election of Trump, the DEI movement appeared to have crested. For example, last year the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ended the use of diversity statements for faculty hiring.
In explaining NASA's position, Petro said of the agency's existing DEIA activities, "These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination."
Petro's email is notable for its suggestion that some civil servants at NASA may have sought to shroud DEIA programs from the Trump administration since the presidential election in early November... (MORE - details)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Trump message to corporate America: Stop 'illegal' DEI or face investigations
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/202...882451007/
EXCERPT: Trump’s executive order aims to end diversity, equity and inclusion policies in the federal government and affirmative action in federal contracting. It bars the government from pushing contractors to diversify their workforce and taps federal agencies to use Civil Rights-era laws “to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs and activities.”
DEI policies “undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive and pernicious identity-based spoils system,” the order said.
The widely anticipated action to overturn decades of affirmative action and diversity precedent is expected to have an immediate chilling effect on corporate DEI efforts.
While the federal government does not have a direct say over the private sector’s diversity practices, it has wide purview over companies that depend on federal funding or hold government contracts.
"These actions freeze DEI operations in the federal government with the anticipation of the end of such programs," said Jonathan Butcher, a senior research fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.
"Corporations," he said, "should recognize that racial discrimination and racial preferences will no longer go unchallenged by Washington." (MORE - details)