The person who planned the mandatory “inclusive excellence” training for faculty and staff at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) may have been in for a big surprise last week when the guest speaker from the Governor’s Office proclaimed that “DEI is dead,” that is diversity, equity and inclusion.
The guest speaker was Martin D. Brown who went from being a manager of a Chick-fil-A to the Governor’s Chief of Diversity, Opportunity and Inclusion, an office created when the Governor dismantled and fired the previous professional staff of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
In a text of his speech obtained by the Washington Post, Brown said, “Let’s take a moment right now to kill that cow. DEI is dead. We’re not going to bring that cow up anymore. It’s dead. It was mandated by the General Assembly but this Governor has a different philosophy of civil discourse, civility training—living the golden rule, right?” Brown is reported to have started his speech with a prayer as his boss often does, a prayer directed straight to Jesus.
There were many indications in the governorship campaign and in the Governor’s early actions that he opposed the progress the Commonwealth was making over the last half dozen years in having the state be more open and inclusive in its work force and equitable in its programs and services. VMI was central in identifying the need for a change in state policies as it had taken more than a decade and a Supreme Court decision for the college to accept women as students, and a study completed several years ago found racism and sexism prevalent on its campus. Previous Governor Ralph Northam, who himself is a VMI graduate, set up the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion that the representative of the current administration has proclaimed as dead.
The persons at the training session where this announcement was made found themselves in a front row seat of a cultural war that is becoming a hallmark of the current administration. Professional staff who want to do their jobs and create an excellent institution find themselves in the crossfire among the Old Guard who want no changes in the institution, the far right who stoke the fires of opposition to any changes, and the opportunists like the Governor who sees the political gain that might be realized by furthering the divisions on issues like diversity and equity.
Those in the broader community who saw opportunities open up for them in education and the workforce with the DEI effort may have to wait another day. Those who worshiped the granite statues that have been removed from public spaces may get some momentary satisfaction in stopping or at least delaying equitable and inclusive programs that can bring about changes for a fairer society.
The Governor is scheduled to speak at the VMI commencement program later this month. Will he respond before that time to demands of the Legislative Black Caucus and the NAACP that Brown be fired? Maybe he can use the opportunity to give some clarity to this issue. Is diversity, equity and inclusiveness dead in his administration? What will he be doing to bring about the golden rule in educational institutions, the workplace, and society? Does he have plans beyond a prayer meeting?