Indiana Does Away With Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Governor Braun saves us from the dreaded DEI - diversity, equity and inclusion.

Thank Heaven for our salvation! What we will have merit, excellence and innovation.

Good thing we've got the high school graduates we have for our future of merit, excellence and innovation.  Indiana's high school graduation rate hit record high in 2024 — but some students still struggling (Indiana Capital Chronicle). Because it looks like it will be them, not college graduates doing the excelling and the innovating - according to their merit, of course. ‘Unacceptable’: Indiana ranks among worst in U.S. for adults with college degrees (Mirror Indy).

And will we be having college students with the meritorious knowledge and skills that will bring excellence and innovation to Indiana? Niki Kelly's Fewer college degree choices is latest result of GOP higher education focus (Indiana Capital Chronicle) points to a possibility of even fewer college graduates in Indiana:

An initial review by higher education officials identified a stunning 408 programs to be eliminated, suspended or merged. That’s nearly 20% of the degree offerings in the state.

Among those being terminated:

• A bachelor’s degree in teaching German at Ball State University
• A fine arts master’s degree in visual arts at Ball State University
• Bachelor’s degrees in education for physics, chemistry and math at Indiana University Bloomington
• An associate’s degree of applied science in public safety at Ivy Tech Community College
• A master’s degree in public administration at Purdue Fort Wayne
• A master’s degree in accountancy at University of Southern Indiana

A recent Newsweek article said Indiana’s Republican Gov. Mike Braun has called for more practical degrees that lead students into jobs, but the alterations to Hoosier higher education also come at a time when colleges across the country are coming under increasing scrutiny over funding and the programs they offer.

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Workforce shortages have turned into a major thorn for state leaders, and this move is clearly a way to push students into specific industries and sectors that business and state leaders want to emphasize to fill open jobs in Indiana.

But nothing will cause burnout and transiency in employment more than not loving what you do.

And if the degree options aren’t here, young Hoosiers will go elsewhere. 

How did DEI threaten the future of Indiana?

Grants to reduce racial health inequities.

Scholarships for Black and Hispanic students.

Racial bias training.

A camping initiative for Black Hoosiers.

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To comply with Braun’s executive order, the Family and Social Services Administration will be abolishing the Office of Healthy Opportunities, which former Gov. Eric Holcomb created to “work with communities served by the Administration to address factors influencing health outcomes, such as housing, education, transportation, and access to services.” 

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The Department of Child Services also eliminated an empty Strategic Equity position in September 2024 that was tasked with assessing barriers to the agency’s programs or services. Additionally, several reports offering advice to families navigating transracial adoption have disappeared and mission statements have been revised. 

IDOH will eliminate two positions outright: a disparities coordinator and a maternal health coordinator. Indiana has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world — and Black mothers are more likely to die in the year following childbirth than their white counterparts.  

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At least one initiative funded by the state’s Career Coaching Grant initiative was specifically tailored to support minority and low-income students. The program — administered by the higher education commission to fund career exploration activities in schools across the state — launched in March 2024 and grants will “naturally conclude” at the end of 2025, according to the governor’s report.

Two additional grant programs will also sunset at the end of 2025 after receiving no new funding in the current budget. The College Success Program, created in the 2023 budget to support minority and first-generation college students, issued grants to Indiana State, Purdue Northwest, and Valparaiso University — all of which included language supporting students of color or underrepresented backgrounds.  

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Braun’s directive, for instance, prompted the Department of Natural Resources to purge campfire-emblazoned flags and other merchandise from state facilities, strip stickers from state-owned vehicles and scrub trainings from its human resources platform. 

That’s because the campfire, dubbed a “unity blaze,” is the logo for North Carolina-based Black Folks Camp Too. Founder Earl B. Hunter Jr. launched the company to combat “generational fears” — like of lynchings — that Black people may hold of the outdoors, ABC 11 reported. 

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One of 32 Community Collaboration Fund grants awarded in 2024 — designed for Hispanic women in the cleaning industry — was labeled inappropriate. 

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The Indiana Real Estate Commission was one of several entities overseen by the Public Licensing Agency that admitted to approving DEI-related continuing education courses. But it’s the only one that requires such training for licensure, according to the report.

The training includes an hour of instruction on listing agreements, an hour on fair housing laws and cultural diversity, and five hours on negotiating and counseling skills.

The agency will have the commission redraw its rules to “remove these specific requirements … to the extent that they can do so without violating the federal Fair Housing Act,” the report concludes. 

Braun report identifies 350 examples of DEI in state government (Indiana Capital Chronicle)

So pretty much that helped anyone who wasn't a white male threatened the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of Hoosiers is DEI?

I may be in a minority here, but it seems to me DEI is actually a right guaranteed by Indiana's Bill of Rights - one most often ignored by all three branches of Indiana's government:

Section 1. WE DECLARE, That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that all power is inherent in the PEOPLE; and that all free governments are, and of right ought to be, founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety, and well being. For the advancement of these ends, the PEOPLE have, at all times, an indefeasible right to alter and reform their government.

IHB: Article 1 - Bill of Rights

 What can be done about a government that denies its citizens an equality of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

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