Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies are being terminated, driven by President Trump and supported by Governor Youngkin. Many supporters of this termination believe that DEI policies were unfair, and didn’t result in equal treatment of the best and the brightest. Others find this view troubling and believe that DEI policies positively contributed to many aspects of society.
This hypothetical but realistic example may be helpful in thinking about life without DEI policies. Take as a starting point a small four-person police department. Two of its officers are retiring, leaving two male officers. A battery of tests is given to the six applicants hoping to fill one of the two vacancies. At the end of all written tests, the six applicants are tied. The final test is a one-mile run, with the department determining that an important job-related skill is to be able to run at least an eight-minute mile (to chase the bad guys down). Two of the applicants can’t do this – so they don’t have this required job skill. The other four applicants all run a sub eight-minute mile, with the two fastest times run by two men. The two other qualifying candidates are women but are a bit slower (while still meeting the eight-minute mile standard). DEI policies demand that the department hire the two men as their scores were the best, so now the force will have four male officers.
Sometime later, there is a sexual assault on a young woman in the community. The victim wants to report what happened, so the police can arrest the criminal. Naturally, she wants to talk to a female officer, as the situation is highly emotional and embarrassing. But the police force can’t help her with this – it does not have any women officers. She has the choice of trying to talk to a male officer while still in shock from the attack, or letting the bad guy get away.
This example easily could be changed to reflect other examples of DEI – is a police force that resembles the community demographic more effective? I offer these examples only as a way to think about the value of DEI to various communities – to help consider what might be lost as DEI programs are terminated.
Gary Silverman Columnist
