From the last U.S. presidential election to the one underway, the public conversation over equality seems to have taken a dramatic pendulum swing. Four years ago, a series of Black fatalities at the hands of police caused an outcry for racial justice. Huge investments in diversity programs followed.
Now the measures widely adopted to address diversity, equity, and inclusion have become a wedge issue. On Jan. 1, Texas banned its public colleges from funding DEI programs, following a similar law that Florida adopted earlier. Scores of corporate diversity officers have resigned in recent months, citing frustration and lack of clarity about their roles.
Yet two surveys released this month shed light on how public attitudes toward equality are shifting focus from identity based on ethnicity or other social determinants to individuality based on character and talent. That change ties diversity to various social goods, such as enhanced corporate productivity.
鈥淚 think the first thing we have to do is get shame out of the equation,鈥� Kathleen Enright, president of the Council on Foundations, told Philanthropy News Digest. An enduring commitment to diversity, she said, involves creating 鈥渟pace for learning and growth and deeper understanding for folks ... who are attempting to do the work from their seat in the context where they are.鈥�
One poll, published by Gallup on Tuesday, found that 68% of adults think the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision last June to end the use of race as a factor in college admissions was 鈥渕ostly a good thing.鈥� Notably, 62% of Black adults between the ages of 18 and 39 held the same view. Another survey by employment law firm Littler found that among 300 corporate executives, 91% said the court鈥檚 ruling against affirmative action would not diminish their commitment to cultivating DEI.
What may be changing, however, is emphasis. In philanthropy, funders are shifting more toward collaboration with grantees in designing grants and projects. In corporate offices, explicit talk of diversity is shifting toward transparency, recognition, and individual agency and creativity. Sharing data on hiring and promotions engenders trust among employees. Encouragement removes a key impediment to integration.
鈥淧eople are able to thrive and flourish in contexts in which failure is met with a measure of agility and grace,鈥� Laura Morgan Roberts, a professor at the University of Virginia鈥檚 Darden School of Business, wrote in a recent essay on DEI in Harvard Business Review.
A Harvard study of 79 businesses last year found that DEI 鈥渋s linked not only to company performance but also leadership and employee engagement.鈥� Its metrics are changing, based on the immutable characteristics of individual worth.
Mark Sappenfield
