Latest news with #anti-DEI
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
$3 million annual contract on the table for UF president who faces GOP concerns
Century Tower on the Gainesville campus of the University of Florida. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix) University of Florida President-elect Santa Ono could receive $3 million per year if the State University System's Board of Governors confirms him next week. The proposed contract between UF and Ono includes a $1.5 million base salary for serving as president, $500,000 for serving as UF Health chair, more than $400,000 in annual performance bonuses, and another half-a-million in retirement contributions and retention payments. Despite unanimous approval by UF trustees, Ono's presidency is being protested by some Republicans, while Gov. Ron DeSantis says he is leaving it up to the board he appointed to make the right decision. Tuesday, the 17-member Board of Governors will vote on Ono, who received unanimous approval from UF trustees this week. He is the sole finalist for the position. 'I appointed all those folks, so they'll make the judgement,' DeSantis said of the Board of Governors' final vote. Former Gov. Rick Scott, U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, and U.S. Rep. and GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds have publicly questioned Ono's candidacy, as has Donald Trump Jr., who took to X to express his feelings on the candidate. 'WTF! Have the decision makers at @UF lost their minds!??? This woke psycho might be a perfect fit for a Communist school in California, but how is he even being considered for this role in Florida?' Trump Jr. posted Wednesday. 'Every single member of the Florida Board of Governors should vote against him!!!' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Ono supported diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in his previous job as president of the University of Michigan, guiding its 'DEI 2.0' initiative and touting benefits of such programs but ultimately closed DEI offices earlier this year. Some Republicans question the legitimacy of Ono's new-found anti-DEI convictions. 'Now people have pointed out a lot of statements that he has made that are not exactly what we're looking for in a state where woke goes to die and I cringe at some of these statements,' DeSantis said Thursday, during a news conference in Fort Myers about medical negligence. 'But basically, I think the folks that were involved in the search, after having interviewed him, spent time with him, it's their judgement that he's really kind of reached the limit on the campus leftism and he would want to leave Michigan where that's prevalent to Florida where it's frowned upon,' DeSantis said. Ono told trustees this week that he developed his new stance on DEI in the last year and a half after talking with students and other members of the university community. Before, he wasn't an expert on the topic, which had been universal in higher education, he said. Florida Republicans and President Donald Trump's administration have focused heavily on removing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives from higher education, including banning state expenditures on such initiatives. 'He will lose his job' if he promotes 'a fountain of activism or leftist indoctrination,' DeSantis said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
USA Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, is the marriage equality ruling next?
Michael and Jacob clicked. They met online in 2020 (one lived in Pennsylvania, the other in Arizona), met in person in 2022 and by December they were a couple. They had talked of getting married in 2027, or 2028. There was no hurry. Then came Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. A few weeks later, Michael got a text from his partner: "We need to talk." The upshot: Michael Tribbey and Jacob Rainey flew to Los Angeles for a rush wedding on Jan. 3. "We realized we need to get married before the new administration comes in, because we don't know what kind of shenanigans are going to come in with marriage equality,' Tribbey told the which is a part of the USA TODAY Network Such concerns are on the minds of many as Pride Month 2025 gets underway. Could the federal recognition of gay marriage go away, just as the federal right to abortion did? Will protections against LGBTQ+ discriminations be lifted? Those things haven't happened yet. They may not happen. There are laws in place, both at the state and national levels, to make it harder for them to happen. But who could say, in light of the anti-DEI policies of the new administration, and the past actions of the Supreme Court, that they couldn't happen?' "Some of it is unlikely, but I don't think any of it is impossible," said Rick Kavin, a political science teacher whose courses "Law and Politics" and "LGBTQ+ Politics in America" are offered at Rutgers University. "It's way more likely than it was five years ago, that's for sure," he said. "I think anything's on the table at this point." Gay married couples, this year, are worried about things that might have seemed fanciful just a year ago. And not without reason, said Brielle Winslow-Majette, deputy director of Garden State Equality, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group based in Montclair and Asbury Park, New Jersey. "I think that's a valid concern," she said. "Based on things we've heard the Supreme Court say in the past, I think they're going after anything that's not traditional. I wouldn't be surprised if same-sex marriage was on the docket." Which is why, as Pride Month launches with the usual parades, celebrations, festivals and music events, it is also looking nervously over its shoulder. 'There are things percolating' The anti-DEI sentiments out of Washington are affecting Pride events on a national level. Mastercard, Pepsi, Nissan and PwC have pulled their sponsorship of NYC Pride. Anheuser-Busch, Comcast and Diageo pulled out of San Francisco Pride. Booz Allen Hamilton and Deloitte withdrew from WorldPride, Washington, D.C. It all begs the question: Could Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, be simply overturned by the court's current 6-3 conservative majority, as Roe v. Wade was in 2022? "I think there may be a try," Winslow-Majette said. "I don't think it is far-fetched to say that it could happen." There are rumblings. Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who was successfully sued in 2015 by a same-sex couple to whom she denied a marriage license, plans to fight the $100,000 judgment in court. But her lawyers plan to go further. They want to make the case a judgment on Obergefell itself. Such a test-case – that, or another like it – could end up, sooner or later, in the Supreme Court. Sounds unlikely? So did the 2022 Dobbs decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion. Until it happened. "There are things percolating," Kavin said. "You're probably going to see something just like that, where a county clerk refuses to issue a license, they're held in contempt and they sue, and it works its way up the courts." 'Scary, but real' Some LGBTQ+ households are starting to ask themselves: What's your plan of action? What's your escape route? (Some, Kavin said, are talking of Canada). Others aren't as concerned. And some couples, like Michael and Jacob, have rushed into matrimony while the door is still open. It would be easier, they reasoned, for the government to prevent their marriage than to un-marry them after the fact. Still it was hard, Tribbey said, to have to suddenly alter their life plans, and to stage a hurried wedding without the preferred trappings, and without most of their respective families. "I found a small chapel that does wedding ceremonies in L.A.," Tribbey said. "I wanted something that was a little nice. I didn't just want a shoebox to be married in." Perhaps, he said, they can have a more elaborate re-commitment ceremony in 2030 or so, when all of this has blown over. If it blows over. Meanwhile, already-married gay couples shouldn't be complacent, Kavin said. "For folks who are currently married, don't just rely on that marriage," he said. "Make sure your will is in order, that your health proxy is set up, that everything is clearly spelled out. What you would want if something happens to you, if you die, if you share children, particularly if they're adopted children? Have that in order. Have your documents in order. Which is scary, but real." If a worst-case scenario is barreling down on the LGBTQ+ community, it will encounter speed bumps. In New Jersey, for example, there is strong pro-equality language in the marriage statutes. "In 2022, they rewrote the marriage laws to be gender-neutral," Kavin said, "in anticipation that something might change on the federal level. New Jersey has very strong protections, but obviously many states don't." Federally, the Respect for Marriage Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden, also in 2022, requires federal and state governments to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages, according to the laws of the state where the marriage occurred. Until that is overturned, all existing marriages will have to be recognized, nationwide. But that wouldn't prevent new laws, forbidding new marriages. "While I don't think you would see existing marriages voided, it's very, very possible that you would see the end of the licensing of new marriages," Kavin said. Moreover, federal laws can be annulled. The Dobbs decision, reversing Roe v. Wade, was one example. The majority 2022 opinion on Dobbs pronounced that its legal argument was confined specifically to abortion. But in his separate, "concurrent" opinion, justice Clarence Thomas argued that, on the contrary, it ought to be applied more broadly. "He specifically singled out not only Obergefell, which is the marriage case, but also Lawrence v. Texas from 2003, which is the sodomy case," Kavin said. "So he's specifically citing these examples of cases that should be reexamined." Whether such a thing happens may depend not just on the vigor of conservatives in pursuing the case, but also, conversely, on the public's willingness to push back.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Letters to the Editor: Companies that ditched DEI 'should take a hard look at the team they've joined'
To the editor: Organizations that canceled their diversity, equity and inclusion programs as the path of least resistance should take a hard look at the team they've joined ('Target learns that bowing to anti-DEI backers can be costly, a lesson for those bowing to Trump,' May 28). It's all part of the same argument throughout time. Pre-Civil War: Teach the enslaved to read and they'll be harder to keep subjugated (diversity is bad). Post-Civil War: Let them vote and they'll elect Black people (inclusion is bad). Post-civil rights: Give them equal opportunity and they'll take your job (equity is bad). In the viewpoint President Trump sells, winning requires a loser. If DEI efforts create new winners, by that logic, they turn former winners into losers, and the status quo winners are white, male, straight and wealthy. The ultimate end of this line of thought was on display May 21 in the Oval Office, where Trump used flagrantly and instantly disprovable lies to publicly accuse the Black president of South Africa of being complicit in genocide against white people — apparently, the consequence of sacrificing apartheid in favor of allowing diversity, equity and inclusion into their democracy. Michael Maniccia, Alhambra .. To the editor: I pass several Targets while going from place to place doing my weekly tasks. I was not a regular Target shopper, but when they announced their commitment to DEI, I started intentionally shopping there for many of my household goods. I also continued to support them after they hired my very well-qualified African American cousin. Speaking with her recently, she is actively seeking new employment in a DEI-supportive company and is no longer shopping at Target. I am supporting businesses such as Costco that are openly and vigorously advertising their commitment to the principles of DEI. Sheila Troupe, Redondo Beach This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Letters to the Editor: Companies that ditched DEI ‘should take a hard look at the team they've joined'
To the editor: Organizations that canceled their diversity, equity and inclusion programs as the path of least resistance should take a hard look at the team they've joined ('Target learns that bowing to anti-DEI backers can be costly, a lesson for those bowing to Trump,' May 28). It's all part of the same argument throughout time. Pre-Civil War: Teach the enslaved to read and they'll be harder to keep subjugated (diversity is bad). Post-Civil War: Let them vote and they'll elect Black people (inclusion is bad). Post-civil rights: Give them equal opportunity and they'll take your job (equity is bad). In the viewpoint President Trump sells, winning requires a loser. If DEI efforts create new winners, by that logic, they turn former winners into losers, and the status quo winners are white, male, straight and wealthy. The ultimate end of this line of thought was on display May 21 in the Oval Office, where Trump used flagrantly and instantly disprovable lies to publicly accuse the Black president of South Africa of being complicit in genocide against white people — apparently, the consequence of sacrificing apartheid in favor of allowing diversity, equity and inclusion into their democracy. Michael Maniccia, Alhambra .. To the editor: I pass several Targets while going from place to place doing my weekly tasks. I was not a regular Target shopper, but when they announced their commitment to DEI, I started intentionally shopping there for many of my household goods. I also continued to support them after they hired my very well-qualified African American cousin. Speaking with her recently, she is actively seeking new employment in a DEI-supportive company and is no longer shopping at Target. I am supporting businesses such as Costco that are openly and vigorously advertising their commitment to the principles of DEI. Sheila Troupe, Redondo Beach
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
MIT announces plans to wind down DEI office, eliminate equity VP job
MIT has become the latest in a string of elite American universities — including Harvard — to distance itself from the idea of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as President Donald Trump continues his anti-DEI agenda and attempts to rein in colleges and universities who resist it. MIT President Sally Kornbluth announced plans to 'sunset' the university's Institute Community and Equity Office and remove its vice president for equity and inclusion position in a letter to the school community last week. The office's 'core programs' will continue, but under the purview of other offices. Read more: 'Willing to capitulate': Cracks emerge in Harvard's resistance to Trump over DEI The decision comes as a result of an assessment of the office's programs and whether they are 'effectively serving campus needs,' Kornbluth wrote. Former Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Karl Reid began this assessment in January 2024, but stepped down from his position in February 2025. Following Reid's resignation, Kornbluth asked 'a working group of senior faculty and staff' to continue the assessment, she wrote. It presented its findings to MIT's Academic Council — which is made up of the university's most senior leaders — last month. 'At a high level, the working group found real appreciation for the programs administered by the Institute Community and Equity Office (ICEO) and reported that our community remains deeply committed to the pursuit of inclusive excellence,' Kornbluth's letter reads. 'But the working group also reported a broad desire to rethink how this work is done in practice; a common refrain, matching what I'd heard myself, was that community is best built locally rather than top down.' The decision to wind down the equity office and vice president position was made based on the recommendations of the working group, Kornbluth wrote. MIT also plans to implement several other changes at the advice of the working group. Read more: Harvard renames its DEI office, conceding on Trump demand Firstly, the university plans to create a new, staff-led Standing Institute Committee that will serve as a 'mechanism' through which people doing 'local-first community building' can easily collaborate with and offer suggestions to MIT leadership, according to the letter. Secondly, it plans to clarify the responsibilities of 'professionals focused on community and belonging efforts' and ensure their work is addressing the needs of the local community by working with MIT's human resources department and local leaders. Finally, as students in affinity groups told the working group that they'd value greater access to university leadership, Kornbluth has tasked Chancellor Melissa Nobles and her team with working with student leaders to determine how best to achieve that goal over the next several months. 'MIT is deeply committed to fostering a campus environment that is free of discrimination and harassment,' she wrote. Read more: Northeastern scrubs most DEI language from website after Trump executive order In making these changes, MIT is following in the footsteps of other Massachusetts universities, such as Northeastern University, which scrubbed DEI-related language from its website in January after President Trump signed an executive order that ended federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs and placed federal DEI staffers on paid leave. Despite its rhetorical and legal rebukes of the Trump administration's attempts to influence colleges and universities, Harvard University made a similar change in April, announcing that it was renaming its DEI office. Harvard affinity group graduations held off campus amid 'capitulation' to Trump Harvard commencement speaker says it's fitting to 'hear from an immigrant like me' Many foreign students already fleeing Harvard University due to Trump order Protesters pack outside Harvard commencement as families focus on their graduates Trump admin starts 30-day countdown on Harvard foreign students Read the original article on MassLive.
