The Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org), which has filed legal challenges to DEI discrimination covering over almost 500 discriminatory programs and scholarships, recently filed five Civil Rights Complaints with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education regarding scholarships that are open only to DACA-eligible or ‘undocumented’ students. Such scholarships by definition allow only student born abroad to apply, since DACA does not apply to American-born students, who also are not ‘undocumented.’ This constitutes discrimination on the basis of national origin, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1963.
It’s important to note that we have not challenged whether DACA/Undocumented students can apply for scholarships, that’s a separate issue. The issue in our complaints is whether schools that receive federal funding and therefore are subject to the Civil Rights Act can promote and administer scholarships that exclude American-born students.
We have posted about three of these DACA/Undocumented legal challenges previously, which were among several types of discrimination challenged at these schools:
We recently filed two more Civil Writes Complaints that we have not had a chance to write up as blog posts yet:
The Department of Justice (DOJ) urged the Supreme Court on July 24 to allow the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to move forward with the cancellation of research grants linked to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
In an emergency application filed with the court, the DOJ asked the justices to block a June ruling by Boston-based District Court Judge William Young, which found the cancellation was unlawful and ordered the government to restore the funding.
“The district court’s order directs the NIH to continue paying $783 million in federal grants that are undisputedly counter to the Administration’s priorities,” the DOJ wrote in the filing.
“Following the change in Administration, the NIH identified, explained, and pursued new funding priorities. That is democracy at work, not, as the district court thought, proof of inappropriate ‘partisan[ship]’—let alone a permissible basis for setting agency action aside.”
The NIH is the world’s largest government funder of biomedical research.
The emergency application stems from two lawsuits challenging the cuts to grants involving DEI, “transgender issues,” and “vaccine hesitancy,” and other issues.
‘Education, not indoctrination’: Texas governor signs higher ed reform bill
A new law signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday is another effort by Republican lawmakers to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion activism from public higher education.
State Sen. Brandon Creighton, the lead sponsor, described the legislation as a “bold step to ensure our public colleges and universities return to their core mission: education, not indoctrination.”
“Just as SB 17 eliminated DEI hiring last session, SB 37 now takes on politically charged academic programs and ensures students graduate with degrees of value, not degrees rooted in activism and political indoctrination,” Creighton stated in a news release.
Senate Bill 37 includes a number of structural changes in the governance of public higher education institutions.
Among other things, it creates new committees to review curriculum at least once every five years to ensure that classes “prepare students for civic and professional life.”
However, lawmakers did remove a section from the final version of the bill that prohibited curriculum that “promote[s] the idea that any race, sex, or ethnicity or any religious belief is inherently superior to any other.”
Creighton said the law, which will go into effect Sept. 1, “demands real accountability from our institutions by creating curriculum review committees in course offerings, aligning core curriculum with workforce needs, and empowering Texans to report ideological bias or political coercion in the classroom.”
USAID Official and Three Corporate Executives Plead Guilty $550 Million in Fraud, Bribery Using DEI– gellerreport.com Source Link Excerpt:
Four men, including a government contracting officer for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and three owners and presidents of companies, have pleaded guilty for their roles in a decade-long bribery scheme involving at least 14 prime contracts worth over $550 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars.
Roderick Watson, 57, of Woodstock, Maryland, who worked as a USAID contracting officer, pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official;
Walter Barnes, 46, of Potomac, Maryland, who was the owner and president of PM Consulting Group LLC doing business as Vistant (Vistant), a certified small business under the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 8(a) contracting program, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and securities fraud;
Darryl Britt, 64, of Myakka City, Florida, who was the owner and president of Apprio, Inc. (Apprio), a certified small business under the SBA 8(a) contracting program, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official; and
Paul Young, 62, of Columbia, Maryland, who was the president of a subcontractor to Vistant and Apprio, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official.
In addition, Apprio and Vistant, both of which contracted with USAID, have agreed to admit criminal liability and enter into three-year deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) in connection with criminal informations filed today in the District of Maryland. As part of these resolutions, both Apprio and Vistant admitted to engaging in a conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and securities fraud. The DPAs entered into with Apprio and Vistant require each company to, among other obligations, provide ongoing cooperation with and disclosures to the Justice Department, implement a compliance and ethics program, and report to Justice Department regarding remediation and implementation of these compliance measures.
“The defendants sought to enrich themselves at the expense of American taxpayers through bribery and fraud,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Their scheme violated the public trust by corrupting the federal government’s procurement process. Anybody who cares about good and effective government should be concerned about the waste, fraud, and abuse in government agencies, including USAID. Those who engage in bribery schemes to exploit the U.S. Small Business Administration’s vital economic programs for small businesses — whether individuals or corporations acting through them — will be held to account.”
“Watson was entrusted to serve the interests of the American people — not his own — and his criminal actions for his own personal gain undermine the integrity of our public institutions,” said U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland. “Public trust is a hallmark of our nation’s values, so corruption within a federal government agency is intolerable. This office, along with our law enforcement partners, will continue to pursue and prosecute corruption at every level to ensure accountability and protect public trust.”
“The guilty pleas reflect the FBI’s unwavering commitment to holding accountable all those who abuse the authority and responsibility of public service,” said Assistant Director Joe Perez of the FBI’s Criminal Division. “The actions of the defendants in this scheme serve to erode public trust. The FBI is focused on rebuilding this trust and protecting American taxpayers from corruption through investigations such as these.”
“Corruption in government programs will not be tolerated. Watson abused his position of trust for personal gain while federal contractors engaged in a pay-to-play scheme,” said Acting Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Sean Bottary of the USAID Office of Inspector General (USAID-OIG). “USAID-OIG is firmly committed to rooting out fraud and corruption within U.S. foreign assistance programs. Today’s announcement underscores our unwavering focus on exposing criminal activity, including bribery schemes by those entrusted to faithfully award government contracts. We appreciate our longstanding partnership with the Department of Justice in holding accountable those who defraud American taxpayers.”
“Watson exploited his position at USAID to line his pockets with bribes in exchange for more than $550 million in contracts. While he helped three company owners and presidents bypass the fair bidding process, he was showered with cash and lavish gifts,” said Chief Guy Ficco of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). “Through its financial crime investigations, IRS-CI works to protect taxpayer dollars and ensure government funds are awarded based on merit — not corruption. In close coordination with our law enforcement partners, IRS-CI helped put an end to their greed and criminal conduct. Now, Watson and his co-conspirators will face justice.”
Since just before Donald Trump won the 2024 election, colleges and universities began pulling back on their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and claiming to be ending them. But now, we are learning that they were only playing to publicity and lied. Most of them didn’t end the DEI programs, they just renamed them.
According to aa report by The College Fix, 90 universities have made a big deal about ending their DEI programs, but all they really did was rename their DEI programs and just renamed them, otherwise leaving them the same as before.
Faced with pressure to eliminate their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, colleges and universities across the nation opted to rebrand such efforts as opposed to eliminating them altogether, a College Fix survey found.
While many universities did close their DEI offices, a large chunk opted to rename or revamp them, but kept a lot of the same employees and goals. In some cases, there were some staff reassignments and other bureaucratic shuffling, such as integration into other departments.
The survey looked at news reports, press releases and institutional websites to determine that over the last two years, at least 87 schools effectively renamed their DEI offices.
From bad to worse: The Harvard Law Review is facing multiple federal probes over reports, published in the Free Beacon, of racial discrimination at the journal. Its conduct in the face of those probes has only added to the furor.
The Review, our Aaron Sibarium reports, “retaliated against a student editor for allegedly leaking documents … and demanded, as part of the journal’s disciplinary process, that he request their destruction.” Those actions came as the journal “was under a document retention order” from the feds. As a result, they “verged on witness intimidation and could get the law review in even deeper trouble with the government,” attorneys told Sibarium.
“What do they call it when a criminal tries to intimidate the witness?” said Jason Torchinsky, a former official in the Justice Department’s civil rights division. “If you know someone is a witness in a federal investigation, and you try to intimidate them into stopping cooperation with the government, that in itself is its own offense.”
Band-aid over a bullet hole: Racial discrimination isn’t the only problem plaguing Harvard. There’s also the issue of pervasive anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias on its campus—something the school pledged to combat in part by hiring a Professor in Residence in Modern Jewish Studies at its Divinity School. That professor, Harvard announced on Wednesday, is self-proclaimed “counter-Zionist” Shaul Magid.
For Magid, Zionism is “unjust” and can be “set aside” along with “Manifest Destiny, colonialism, and any number of other chauvinistic and ethnocentric ideologies of the past.”
Magid’s appointment did not land well with Rabbi David Wolpe, who spent a year as a visiting scholar at Harvard’s Divinity School. Magid’s views are “very fringe” and don’t “represent anything like the mainstream view of the American Jewish community,” Wolpe told us. “He is not an answer to the problem that Harvard has with their Jewish students or with the exclusion of mainstream views.”
While Elon Musk has mercifully finally left the building—though not before getting literal billions of dollars in no-bid government contracts and other treats—Musk has rich acquaintances who still need sweet no-bid government contracts. So that’s why the Federal Aviation Administration will be giving up to $2.1 million of your tax dollars to Musk’s personal attorney, Alex Spiro, to investigate whether former President Joe Biden left some DEI inside the planes and that’s why they keep crashing.
This deal was actually set up in March, long before Musk’s departure, but apparently in secrecy, because that’s totally how the most transparent administration in history rolls. But The Atlantic got Spiro’s scope of work document, labeled privileged and confidential, because that is also totally how the most transparent administration in history rolls.
Elon Musk’s personal attorney, Alex Spiro
For roughly $2 million of your tax dollars, Spiro will put together a team of former federal prosecutors to figure out what DEI policies exist—okay, wait. Let’s stop there. Most people figure out what government policies exist by … looking at the policies, given that the federal government issues drafted-and-edited-to-death policies on literally everything, but especially anything related to hiring.
Education Department: Columbia University No Longer Meets Standards for Accreditation– gellerreport.com Source Link Excerpt:
“After Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Columbia University’s leadership acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. “This is not only immoral, but also unlawful.”
The Department of Education on Wednesday notified the accreditor responsible for New York City’s Columbia University to let them know the school failed to meet accreditation standards by violating federal anti-discrimination laws.
The notification comes after the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR) found it violated Title IV by acting with “deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students.”
The department said the finding means that the school has failed to meet accreditation standards that were set by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
“After Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Columbia University’s leadership acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “This is not only immoral, but also unlawful.”
The U.S. Department of Education has notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (the “Commission”) that Columbia University is not in compliance with the Commission’s accreditation requirements.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today notified Middle States Commission on Higher Education (the Commission) that its member institution, Columbia University, is in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws and therefore fails to meet the standards for accreditation set by the Commission. Pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order, Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education, the Department has an obligation to promptly provide accreditors with any noncompliance findings related to member institutions.
The Commission’s “Standards for Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliation” state that “a candidate or accredited institution possesses or demonstrates … compliance with all applicable government laws and regulations.” In light of OCR’s determination, Columbia University no longer appears to meet the Commission’s accreditation standards.
“After Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Columbia University’s leadership acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus. This is not only immoral, but also unlawful. Accreditors have an enormous public responsibility as gatekeepers of federal student aid. They determine which institutions are eligible for federal student loans and Pell Grants. Just as the Department of Education has an obligation to uphold federal antidiscrimination law, university accreditors have an obligation to ensure member institutions abide by their standards,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “We look forward to the Commission keeping the Department fully informed of actions taken to ensure Columbia’s compliance with accreditation standards including compliance with federal civil rights laws.” ….
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has shuttered its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) office.
According to Fox News, MIT President Sally Kornbluth announced the closing of the Institute Community and Equity Office (ICEO) last week.
“As I’ve said many times, MIT is in the talent business,” Kornbluth’s announcement read.
“Our success depends on attracting exceptionally talented people of every background, from across the country and around the world, and making sure everyone at MIT feels welcome and supported, so they can do their best work and thrive,” it added.
MIT has acknowledged the failure of its DEI programs, is sunsetting the Institute Community and Equity Office (ICEO), and is winding down its Strategic Action Plan for Belonging, Achievement, and Composition. https://t.co/d4pY8p8N9Hpic.twitter.com/t7W51Y5s4U
Two Secret Service agents were suspended after getting into a physical altercation last week that was captured on video and circulated online.
A Secret Service spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the video, which depicted two female officers getting into a physical fight while on duty. NBC News reported that the incident occurred outside of former President Obama’s home in Washington, D.C.
The spokesperson said the incident — which occurred early last Wednesday — is under internal investigation.
“The U.S. Secret Service is aware of an on-duty altercation that occurred between two Uniformed Division officers at approximately 2:30 a.m. on May 21,” the statement read. “The individuals involved were suspended from duty and this matter is the subject of an internal investigation.”
Two female Secret Service officers were suspended after being caught on camera fighting outside former President Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C., home last week.
According to audio recording of the incident, one officer calls for a supervisor to come “immediately before I whoop this girl’s a**.”
Video shared by RealClearPolitics’ Susan Crabtree on X also shows the moment things got heated between the two officers.
🚨🚨#BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE: @RCPolitics has obtained video of the fight between two women Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers outside former President Obama’s residence last week after one officer called a supervisor to come before “I whoop this girl’s ass.”
🚨#BREAKING SCOOP: IS DEI STILL PLAGUING THE SECRET SERVICE?
FRACAS OUTSIDE OBAMA RESIDENCE RAISES NEW QUESTIONS: Get a supervisor “immediately before I whoop this girl’s ass.”
Two female Secret Service Uniformed Division officers got into a physical fight outside former… pic.twitter.com/RmEDx6BWXD
City’s Emergency Chief Blasted as DEI Hire After ‘They/Them’ Left Tornado Siren Off During Deadly St. Louis Storms– www.westernjournal.com Source Link Excerpt:
It’s like Los Angeles Fire Department Assistant Chief Kristine Larson all over again.
You may remember Larson as the face of how wokeness, among many other things, crippled Southern California’s ability to respond to the cataclysmic wildfires that swept through Los Angeles and its suburbs early this year. Larson, who worked in the “Equity and Human Resources Bureau” at the LAFD and took home a salary in the mid-six figures, infamously mocked people who said women who didn’t meet the same physical requirements as men might be a danger as firefighters….
“Let me be clear: CEMA exists to alert the community when severe weather is coming. This office failed to do that in the most horrific and deadly storm that our city has experienced in my lifetime,” Mayor Spencer said during a news conference Wednesday, according to KTVI.
And, indeed, that’s not hard to find via CEMA documents, which KSDK-TV’s Mark Maxwell posted on social media:
This CEMA document spells out who *should have been* responsible for sounding the tornado siren. The Commissioner of CEMA needs to answer questions.
The confusing protocol Mayor Spencer alluded to: “Sirens are activated at Fire Dept… OR CEMA.”
And, pray tell, why weren’t the alarms activated like they were supposed to be? Per KTVI:
The investigation looks into why the CEMA staff, including Russell, were not in the office during the anticipated storms. Instead, they were attending a workshop at another downtown location, which left them unable to activate the sirens from the office. [Emphasis ours.]
Russell contacted the fire department to activate the sirens, but unclear communication led to nobody sounding the sirens. Mayor Spencer’s office released audio of the call between Russell and a fire department dispatcher, highlighting the ambiguity in the directive to activate the sirens.
Yes, a workshop. How DEI could you possibly get? And not only that, Russell also has the Kristine Larson-worthy video clip of her trying to weasel out of the responsibility during a news briefing by hiding the fact that her team was in said workshop:
Great accountability questions from @shoshana_stahl last night. Notice how it takes three times before CEMA Commissioner Sarah Russell finally admits CEMA staffers were at a workshop when they should’ve been sounding an alarm. Russell also blames fire dept, old battered sirens. https://t.co/JvHSRqvX4Apic.twitter.com/9g7jCYBxJm
Another famous Missourian — and a Democrat, to boot! — used to have a sign on his desk, which said “The Buck Stops Here.”
One assumes Russell, contraHarry Truman, has a sign on hers which states, “The Buck, Assuming There Is a Buck, Due to Budget Shortages, and We Are More of a 9-to-5 Department, So Don’t Blame Us If Stuff Happens After Hours — And We Do Have Workshops to Deal With, Too, So Keep That In Mind — But That Buck, Should It So Exist, Does Not Stop With They/Them, Should It In Fact Need to Stop.”
There will be an investigation by the City of St. Louis into Russell and CEMA, of course, and one assumes that it might actually be thorough — given that five people died and the buck needs to stop somewhere. However, how can one look at her craven, gutless answers during the media briefing — combined with the need to make sure everyone knows on the city website she uses “they/them” pronouns — and not conclude that DEI somehow seeped into this hiring process?
I’m not an expert in hiring for the City Emergency Management Agency, but I’d like to think that it involves testing whether someone has what it takes to, say, manage emergencies. (Kind of in the agency name, after all.) I’d also say, based on available evidence, we can pass summary judgment on whether or not Russell lived up to her responsibilities this time around.
Maybe, during this investigation, it might be profitable to ask whether we might have had more responsible judgment at Russell’s level if a he/him or a she/her that was looked at for they/their position was hired instead. Just saying.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture
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A New Jersey lawmaker ripped apart “decarbonization” legislation that will increase utility bills in order to stop the fictional “climate crisis.”
“Green” energy is toxic, inefficient, expensive, unprofitable, and prone to failure. And since the “climate crisis” exists only in the minds of hysterical leftists, there is no reason at all for Democrat-run New Jersey to keep moving toward dependence on green energy. Yet they do, which will certainly lead to higher utility costs for New Jersey citizens.
For some good news closing out the week, Trump’s FBI chief, Kash Patel, is demoting the woke, leftist FBI agents who were seen taking a knee during the George Floyd riots in 2020.
You might recall that many members of the federal government were seen kowtowing to the racist Black Lives Matter insurrectionists who were rampaging across the country and destroy billions of dollars in private property.
Remember this:
NEW: FBI agents photographed kneeling during George Floyd protest have been removed from their positions – CNN pic.twitter.com/yCVX2a3rK9
Ten years have passed since the Department of Defense initiated a social experiment with women in the military. Pentagon officials promised that female trainees headed for previously all-male combat arms units would have to meet the exact same standards as men. Has the experiment played out as promised?
We are about to find out. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s March 30 memorandum calls for a 60-day review to achieve high, uncompromised standards in combat arms units such as the infantry, special operations, and other occupations with extraordinary physical demands.
Thanks to a series of executive orders that President Donald Trump has issued since January, Hegseth’s six-month implementation period should proceed without equivocation or distractions related to percentage-based diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) quotas. Wrote Hegseth, “[I]t is essential to identify which positions require heightened entry-level and sustained physical fitness.”
More than 100 US universities and colleges, including Ivy League institutions Princeton and Brown, issued a joint letter on Tuesday condemning President Donald Trump’s “political interference” in the education system.
The move comes a day after Harvard University sued the Trump administration, which has threatened to cut funding and impose outside political supervision.
“We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the letter read.
“We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion,” it said, adding: “We must reject the coercive use of public research funding.”
The Mayo Clinic is rebranding its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as “belonging,” following President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting all such DEI-related programs.
On Inauguration Day, Trump signed an executive action “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” banning the “illegal and immoral discrimination programs” within the federal government. The administration warned it would pull federal funding, including grant awards, from entities that continue implementing DEI-related initiatives despite the ban.
‘In keeping with this focus and recent national events, we’re embracing an opportunity to accelerate Mayo Clinic’s belonging journey to reflect our culture of collaboration and respect and support positive patient experiences.’
Trump’s action appears to have prompted some companies, including the Mayo Clinic, to effectively cancel the acronym while potentially keeping the same goals under a new name.
The Trump administration acted quickly on Monday to punish Harvard University after it refused to comply with a list of demands from the federal government that the school said were unlawful.
On Monday afternoon, Harvard became the first university to refuse to comply with the administration’s requirements, setting up a showdown between the federal government and the nation’s wealthiest university. By the evening, federal officials said they would freeze $2.2 billion in multiyear grants to Harvard, along with a $60 million contract.
Other universities have pushed back against the administration’s interference in higher education. But Harvard’s response, which called the Trump administration’s demands illegal, marked a major shift in tone for the nation’s most influential school, which has been criticized in recent weeks for capitulating to Trump administration pressure.
Ohio private universities could lose scholarship money if they keep DEI programs
Ohio’s sweeping higher education law, Senate Bill 1, didn’t touch private universities. But a change added to the state budget would penalize private institutions that don’t ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Under the proposed change, students couldn’t use a popular scholarship at a private university unless that institution complies with portions of the higher education overhaul and accepts the top 10% of high school graduates.
Lawmakers are using the Governor’s Merit Scholarship, awarded to Ohio high school students in the top 5% of their class, as a carrot and a stick. Private universities aren’t required to make the changes in Senate Bill 1. But those that don’t risk losing scholarship students to other universities.
A far-left online project from the Smithsonian has disappeared, just weeks after President Donald Trump signed executive orders enforcing laws against racial discrimination. The project was previously exposed for pushing racist claims about white people.
Rajendra once held the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Officer role at NASA’s famous Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She is steeped in the DEI movement, having co-founded the Science of Diversity & Inclusion Initiative (SODI) and advised various organizations on DEI strategies.
The organization retained Rajendra after rebranding her position in an apparent effort to evade President Donald Trump’s executive orders regarding the ending of DEI. She managed to cling to her job, even after 900 others at JPL were terminated.
Less than a week after this evasion came to light courtesy of the Washington Free Beacon, NASA jettisoned Rajendra.
NASA’s jet propulsion laboratory has parted ways with its top diversity officer, Neela Rajendra, after the Washington Free Beacon reported that the lab had changed her title in an effort to keep her.
“Neela Rajendra is no longer working at [the Jet Propulsion Laboratory],” lab director Laurie Leshin said in an all-staff email on Thursday. “We are incredibly grateful for the lasting impact she made to our organization. We wish her the very best.”
Leshin added that the newly formed Office of Team Excellence and Employee Success—intended to replace the DEI team Rajendra had led—would be moved to the Office of Human Resources.
The European Council has come out in support of the Omnibus Package proposed by the European Commission in February.
The package seems to be essentially an effort to codify the woke ideology, the theory the white devil invented evil and therefore we must end all white devil institutions, including Christianity and the sex binary, into their market institutions. From an American perspective, this is good news as the adoption will assure Europe will not be a competent competitor technologically or economically in a relatively short period of time.
European Council and European Parliament jump on the Omnibus – JD Supra Source Link Excerpt:
In its meeting of March 20, 2025, the European Council expressed its support of the so-called Omnibus Package proposed by the European Commission on February 26, 2025.
The Omnibus Package includes significant changes to EU ESG laws with a particular focus on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D).
The Package contains a “Stop-the-Clock” proposal and a substantive proposal providing for changes to the CSRD and the CS3D…
It is equally promising that Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, also stated that the Parliament is “set to adopt an urgency procedure” to adopt the “Stop-the-Clock”-Proposal in two weeks and that the work on the amendments to the CSRD and CS3D will start in April….
This is the summary of the current Omnibus Proposal given by Grok 3 in response to the query that begins below and leads to Grok 3’s response:
PROMPT: Give me a summary of the EU’s new ESG guidelines as they exist right now in the present Omnibus
GROK 3: As of today, April 1, 2025, the European Union’s new ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) guidelines under the “Omnibus” framework refer to a set of proposals introduced by the European Commission on February 26, 2025, aimed at simplifying and streamlining existing sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements. These proposals, often referred to as the “Omnibus Sustainability Package,” amend key regulations such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD or CS3D), and the EU Taxonomy Regulation. However, these are still draft proposals under review by the European Parliament and Council, meaning they are not yet fully adopted or enforceable law. Below is a summary of the current state of these guidelines based on the latest available information:
Reduced Scope: The proposal significantly narrows the number of companies subject to CSRD reporting requirements by approximately 80%. It raises the threshold for applicability to companies with over 1,000 employees and either a turnover exceeding €50 million or a balance sheet total above €25 million. Smaller companies (previously those with 250+ employees meeting certain financial thresholds) are largely exempted unless they voluntarily opt in.
Delayed Timelines: Reporting deadlines for certain groups of companies are pushed back by two years. For example, large undertakings and parent companies of large groups originally set to report in 2026 (for the 2025 financial year) would now start in 2028 (for 2027). Listed SMEs would begin in 2029 (for 2028). Public-interest entities with over 500 employees remain on the original schedule, reporting in 2025 for 2024.
Simplified Standards: The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) will be revised to reduce the number of data points and align more closely with other regulations, though “double materiality” (assessing both financial and societal/environmental impacts) remains intact. The requirement for “reasonable assurance” on sustainability statements is dropped, retaining only “limited assurance.”
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD/CS3D) Adjustments
Extended Deadlines: The transposition deadline for Member States to adopt CSDDD into national law is delayed by one year to July 26, 2027, with the first phase of compliance for the largest companies starting July 26, 2028. Guidelines from the Commission to assist companies are advanced to July 2026.
Harmonization Efforts: The proposal seeks greater consistency across EU Member States on due diligence obligations (e.g., identifying and mitigating environmental and human rights risks in value chains), though Member States can still impose stricter rules if desired.
Scope Refinement: Obligations are clarified to focus on direct operations and upstream supply chains, with downstream financial sector requirements deferred for further review.
EU Taxonomy Regulation Updates
Materiality Threshold: A 10% “de minimis” threshold is introduced, exempting companies from assessing Taxonomy eligibility and alignment for activities below 10% of turnover, capital expenditure (CapEx), or operating expenditure (OpEx).
Simplified Reporting: Amendments to the Taxonomy Disclosure Delegated Act and related Climate and Environmental Delegated Acts aim to streamline reporting templates, potentially reducing data points significantly (e.g., up to 89% for some financial institutions). A public consultation on these changes ran until March 26, 2025, with adoption expected in Q2 2025.
… But that doesn’t mean they aren’t scared. Around 55% of leaders surveyed say they have serious concerns about lawsuits, additional government actions, and shareholder votes, forcing them to make serious changes to their programs. Costco and Apple, for example, were recently faced with proposals from anti-DEI shareholder activists, both of which were voted down.
Keeping a cool head right now is critical. Some research suggests that businesses that rapidly change viewpoints on issues customers care about could face backlash for coming off as “inauthentic.” And experts say that despite the fear created by Trump’s recent executive orders focused on eliminating DEI, if a corporate diversity program is open to everyone and compliant with existing civil rights laws, it’s perfectly legal.
“Despite the increased scrutiny, many companies seem to be taking a measured approach, rather than rushing to end or scale back IE&D efforts,” Jeanine Conley Daves, an employment attorney at Littler and member of the firm’s IE&D consulting practice, told Fortune. “It makes sense not to make extensive changes to efforts and initiatives that have helped to build a strong company culture.”
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