DEI Still Lurks in Local Government

Progress at the federal level in rolling back DEI will be slow to affect common citizens if we don’t realize what’s still in place locally, in cities like South Bend.

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Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg listens on the White House grounds in Washington, D.C., May 8, 2023.

Leah Millis/Reuters

The right believes that it has won the war on DEI. The Trump administration is purging it from the federal government. Several states have followed suit. Corporations are pulling back their long-feigned support of diversity initiatives, and universities are retreating as well — if only out of fear of losing federal dollars. But the cancer of DEI has had a long time to metastasize at the local level before this recent charge against it at the highest echelons of government, the market, and the academy. DEI still needs to be eliminated from local government, where it receives less scrutiny but has an enduring pernicious effect.

Take South Bend, Ind., for example. It’s a small, post-industrial Midwestern city. It’s also one of the smallest cities in the country with a race- and gender-based public spending program.

JK

About the Author

Jacob Koestner

Jacob Koestner is a 2024 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where he studied environmental engineering and theology. He is preparing to begin a career in classical Catholic education.

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