Where Seattle companies stand in response to Trump anti-DEI moves
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As part of his recent flurry of executive orders, President Trump is moving to dismantle the federal government's diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, also known as DEI. GeekWire reporter Lisa Stiffler wrote about the local and national impacts in a recent piece. She talked to KUOW’s Kim Malcolm about what she learned.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Kim Malcolm: What kinds of evidence do supporters of equity and inclusion work lean on to show the benefits of these programs?
Lisa Stiffler: I think back when the programs really were catching fire, following the death of George Floyd, there was a lot of language around almost a moral imperative that they really needed to support equity, that they needed to embrace racial justice. I see that language shifting now. It seems more focused on serving their customer base.
And what arguments are those against equity and inclusion programs making now that are getting the backing of the Trump administration?
Well, they are essentially alleging that there is reverse discrimination going on, that white, male employees are being unfairly passed over for roles and promotions because of who they are, because they are white men. They go on to allege that then less-qualified candidates are being chosen in their place, simply to satisfy diversity goals and objectives. They are saying that this sort of activity is weakening American companies because inferior candidates are being chosen for roles.
We have some locally rooted but globally known companies that are grappling with this issue right now. Can you just give us a quick overview about how they're responding to this?
Costco and Microsoft have really been called out as they've been retaining their support publicly for DEI efforts. Costco recently had a shareholders meeting where there was a measure challenging DEI efforts. The board explained that they have their programs in place to create a heterogeneous workforce that serves their customers, and the measure was defeated by 98% of the vote.
Over at Microsoft, this past fall and summer, they've been speaking out in support of DEI as well, and emphasizing again that it's important to have diversity in the workforce because that's who they're serving, a very diverse customer base, and that those voices need to be reflected in the people who are doing the work to make sure that the products meet their customer’s needs.
But not all the companies locally here are following that tack.
No. Boeing this past year got rid of its DEI department. The vice president leading it left the company. Amazon has undergone an internal review of its DEI policies and has scuttled some of them. It said that some were just not efficient, or the effort had been achieved, and so they've moved on. They're definitely reframing how they're approaching diversity and inclusion.
One of President Trump's orders directs federal agencies to identify large corporations, nonprofits, foundations, associations, and universities for potential investigations. Help us unpack what that could mean.
Well, it seems like they're really trying to set up a situation where they might make some examples of companies who have really come out in support of DEI efforts, maybe to have a chilling effect for others. I can't say exactly what the intention is. They would probably say that it would be to understand what's happening on the ground and to take this to the courts, to let the courts make a ruling as to whether companies have gone too far in the direction of supporting diversity and are now committing reverse discrimination.
It should be really interesting. The attorney that I spoke with said that there's so much uncertainty about how they're going to define these terms that it's hard to know how it's going to play out.
In a letter to Costco’s CEO this week, 19 Republican state attorneys general called on the company to repeal its diversity policies, claiming they impose, “unlawful discrimination.” They say they're giving Costco 30 days to drop their DEI policies or explain why they haven't done so.
Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.