DEI: Explaining the diversity, equity and inclusion debate
Initiatives for diversity, equity, and inclusion are facing bans across the United States.
A Department of Defense webpage honoring a Black Army general was temporarily updated with the addition of the letters “DEI” in the page’s URL, as well as being inaccessible altogether on the Pentagon’s website.
A “404” error message was temporarily displayed on the page for Army Maj. Gen. Charles Gavin Rogers’s Medal of Honor, while the phrase “deimedal” appeared in in the URL. As of Monday, the change had been reversed and the page was back up, but the error page with “deimedal” in the URL was still visible on the Internet Archive.
The change in the webpage came as the Trump Administration has implemented various measures to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across federal agencies.
“We have ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and, indeed, the private sector and our military,” Trump said in his address before a joint session of Congress earlier this month.
The United States Department of Defense did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment on Monday.
Who was Maj. Gen. Charles Gavin Rogers?
A West Virginia native, Rogers was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Richard Nixon in 1970, according to the West Virginia Military Hall of Fame. Rogers received the award after being wounded three times in Vietnam while leading the defense of a base.
He was also the highest-ranking African American to receive the medal. Following his award, Rogers remained in the military and retired as a major general in 1984.
Rogers died in 1990 and was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. A bridge in Fayette County, West Virginia was renamed after Rogers in 1999 to honor his life and achievements.
Trump continues anti-DEI policies
During the first two months of his second term in office, Trump has issued a plethora of executive order that seek to dismantle DEI programs, put pressure on federal contractors to end “illegal DEI discrimination” and direct federal agencies to draw up lists of private companies that could be investigated for their DEI policies.
Back in February, a four-page letter was sent by the Department of Education in which Craig Trainor, the Education Department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said that the law now prohibits schools reliant on federal money from “using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”
Contributing: Zachary Schermele and Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.