Establishing a DEI Underground

An open thread ...

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Yesterday, news broke that Dr. Santa Ono, former Dean of Michigan who was about to step into leadership at the University of Florida, had his new job revoked by the Florida Board of Governors.

“There’s too much smoke with Santa Ono,” said one Florida politician. “We need a leader, not a DEI acolyte.”

But Ono had actually closed the DEI department at Michigan, citing that while he believes in equal opportunities for all students, he saw how DEI had become “more about ideology, division, and bureaucracy, not student success.”

It’s the kind of thing one might expect from Florida, where conservative values have been instilled in schools from kindergarten on. But whether you live in Florida, Mississippi, or my city of LA, where racism is more likely to be hidden, it is up to all of us to keep diversity efforts and awareness alive.

We need a DEI Underground.

Here are some strategies that clients have cooked up where the systems are being dismantled:

✳️ Renaming inclusive programs that have become illegal: a general example would be The DEI Club becoming The Coalition for American Values.

✳️ Instituting an "underground reportage" network - a diverse task force in an org. assigned with keeping DEI efforts alive via:

1. Alerting their personal networks to new job opportunities: As soon as a new job in a firm opens up, these warriors spread the word, alerting people of color.

2. Vetting complaints of racism and strategizing on how to address or manage them in an impactful way: before incidents are brought to HR, the group can be a safe place where workers can discuss and dissect micro-aggressions, as well as repeat acts of ignorant or intended offense. For example, there may be one person who frequently comments on clothing or sexual orientation in an insensitive way. Depending on the person and their role, the group can discuss how, when, and who to address it. They can also assist a victim in collecting more serious evidence of racism involving sabotage; e.g. when a white person steals a person of color’s idea as their own; or inhibits a person of color’s success by not collaborating, and advise on bringing the issues to HR.

3. Training other staff on how to respond to isms in the moment: Coming up with effective scripts to alert people to their insensitivity in ways that will minimize blowback. One example, a white bystander of a micro-aggression could ask an offender: “Do you always comment on people’s hair?” in a non-aggressive tone.

(Why are they doing this for free, you might ask? They're not. It's considered work, similarly to internal task groups set up to strategize and advise on change management when an org. goes through big changes.)

✳️ Encouraging HR to set up org-wide, "If you see something, say something" anonymous data collection: e.g. a box in which people can report incidents or concerns, helping HR monitor brewing situations and intervene to address them.

What are you doing to keep progress alive in institutions where it is being hampered? Share your strategies and ideas in the comments.