DEI doesn’t work, evidence shows
Clarence Page is correct. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is not a “DEI hire” (“Deriding DEI is the right’s attempt at a polite way to attack civil rights,” April 3). Whoever said so understands neither diversity, equity, and inclusion nor the ballot box. Scott was elected, and he has an opportunity to show leadership by helping those affected by the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster, which also had nothing to do with DEI.
With respect to Page, however, his description of DEI is simply false. Since he refers to our institution, let the record show that we strongly believe in civil rights laws and seek to defend these provisions at The Heritage Foundation. We stand firmly in favor of civil rights protections and have our research to prove it.
Page says that the three initials “have taken on a life of their own as code” for epithets and “vile” messaging. We agree, and that is one of the reasons we oppose DEI. If diversity, equity and inclusion retained their traditional meanings, we would be in favor. Alas, diversity has come to mean racial quotas, inclusion to mean language codes and equity to mean unequal treatment for members of different races. These are unconstitutional. Don’t blame us if these are “virtues that have become a vice in today’s discourse,” as Page says.
Plus, DEI does not work. The research literature on DEI’s effectiveness at changing attitudes and behavior among students and working professionals finds that DEI trainings do not alter participants’ opinions (as covered by The Washington Post, The New York Times, New York magazine and elsewhere).
The racial preferences in university admissions for which Page advocates are also unconstitutional and drag along a number of other ills. Racial preferences create a mismatch between individuals and institutions, for example. Again, the research is clear on this topic: When students underprepared for competitive colleges are admitted anyway because of their skin color, they fall behind — not because of ability but because of readiness.
No one should face discrimination based on race, sex, ethnicity or country of origin, and we have both stated this in our research and testimony before lawmakers. DEI programs, however, treat people differently based on race.
Page is welcome at our office anytime as we work to make sure character bests skin color in every public policy.
— Mike Gonzalez senior fellow, and Jonathan Butcher, senior fellow, The Heritage Foundation.