Health care and other federal funding recipients face new risks on multiple fronts in their use of diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) programs. The Executive Branch has undertaken a concerted effort to reshape the interpretation and enforcement of federal civil rights laws impacting DEI practices through the issuance of Executive Orders, as discussed here, and by directing the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) to implement its policy objectives, as outlined here.
Continue Reading As Executive Branch Scrutiny of DEI Programs Intensifies, Companies Must Assess All Aspects of Their Policies and Business Practices to Ensure Compliance with Civil Rights Laws
Diversity
It’s the End of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Programs as We Know It?
As promised in his campaign for the presidency of the United States, on January 21, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14172 “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” (Emphasis added).
The President’s Executive Order states that illegal diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) policies violate the text and spirit of federal civil-rights laws.
Accordingly, the President ordered all federal agencies to enforce civil rights laws and to “combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.” The President…
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Diversity is the Antidote for Competition
By Erin Ogden
Long before I was a trademark nerd, I was a biology geek with the science degrees to prove it. Yes, I have read Darwin’s The Origin of Species – in my own free time at that. I also recently read Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne and The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Three very different books, but they each have a way shifting perspectives. All of them…
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Interrupting the School to Prison Pipeline at the Intersection of Race and Disability
For the past several years, Wisconsin has ranked near the top of the country for racial disparity in nearly every category related to the juvenile justice system.1
State and national trends also support that there is a particular group of youth of color that are uniquely susceptible to involvement in the juvenile justice system: those who have a disability. Nationally, children with disabilities are removed from school and referred to and involved in the juvenile justice system at…
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The DEI Landscape in Law Firms
By Mary Purdy
In her Business Law Blog article, “The DEI Conundrum for Companies,” Nadelle Grossman explored both obstacles and opportunities that companies face in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
In this article, I expand that discussion, noting and commenting on ways that law firms can establish or build upon their DEI efforts to overcome challenges they may have.
Mary E. Purdy, Marquette 2024, is interested in practicing in corporate and business law.
Uncertainty in…
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Diversity Counsel Program: ‘There’s a Space for You Here’
Dec. 7, 2023 – More than 40 lawyers gathered at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee for the State Bar of Wisconsin’s 2023 Diversity Counsel Program on Monday, Dec. 4.
The State Bar of Wisconsin’s Diversity and Inclusion Oversight Committee organized the program, emceed by Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Kori Ashley.
Launched by the State Bar in 2004, the Diversity Counsel Program was modeled after the original American Bar Association Minority Counsel Demonstration Program.
Originally designed to increase…
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