Department slams brakes on diversity classes

摘要

The Interior Department, one of the government's whitest agencies, is postponing a series of training events on race and diversity in light of recent directives from the White House. In an email to agency leaders obtained by E&E News, Interior's chief diversity officer said the "Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Conversations" will be put on hold until further guidance from the White House. The email is in response to a Sept. 4 memo from the Office of Management and Budget that banned agency spending on any training event that discusses "white privilege," characterizing it as "divisive, anti-American propaganda." Erica White-Dunston, director and chief diversity officer in Interior's Office of Civil Rights, said in the email to staff that the office's "primary assessment suggests" this diversity training series is not the subject of the OMB memo.