Corporate America Drew Back From DEI. The Upheaval Isn't Over.

Corporate America pulled back on diversity programs in 2024 under pressure from activists. In the new year, it will face an even more powerful challenger.

- Theo Francis & Chip Cutter

Trump's second administration is gearing up to end diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, policies in dozens of government and business programs after many of the same concepts came under attack at some of the biggest U.S. companies.

"The pendulum is swinging back and swinging back very hard against DEI," said Mike Davis, a former Senate lawyer who runs the Article III Project, a conservative legal advocacy group, who is a close outside adviser to Trump.

"Until DEI is eradicated from society there's still work to be done." Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which has sued companies over DEI policies, is pointing to 61 federal programs it considers ripe for litigation and elimination, including technical assistance for minority farmers and contracting preferences for minority-owned law firms helping to collect U.S. debts. It will have an ally inside the White House: Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who ran a group that has also sued companies over DEI policies.

The assault on DEI—an umbrella term for policies designed to create more opportunities for minorities and their businesses—took off after the Supreme Court in 2023 struck down affirmative action in college admissions. In the wake of the decision, activists challenged corporate policies—and many businesses retreated.

Ford Motor said it would stop providing workplace data to a gay-rights lobbying group. UBS stopped giving out $25,000 grants directed at businesses led by women of color. Walmart said it wouldn't renew funding for a charity it created to address racial disparities.

This month a federal appeals court rejected Nasdaq's yearslong push to set racial and gender targets for the boards of its listed companies.