Braun signs executive order eliminating DEI in state government

By MICHAELA SPRINGER & GARRETT BERGQUIST
WISH-TV | wishtv.com

Newly sworn-in Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R) on Wednesday issued an executive order eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion practices from within the state’s government.

The order comes from abiding by the Equal Protection Clause under the Fourteenth Amendment and by “ensuring all Hoosiers have equality of opportunity by eliminating DEI in state government.”

Instead, Braun ordered the initiative be replaced with MEI, or “merit, excellence, and innovation.”

Under the order, state agencies will not:

• Support diversity, equity, and inclusion positions, departments, activities, procedures or programs if they grant preferential treatment based upon one person’s particular race, color, ethnicity, or national origin, over that of another person.
• Require any person to participate in or receive any training, instruction, procedures, or programming if they endorse preferential treatment of one person’s particular race, color, ethnicity or national origin, over that of another person.
• Require any applicant for employment to provide a statement relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion or provide any applicant for employment preferential treatment for providing such a statement, over another person.
• Mandate any person to disclose their pronouns.

Agencies will also be required to review their DEI programs, positions, activities, and departments for compliance and must “eliminate or revise” them by April 30.

“The Chief Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity Office in the Governor’s Office is hereby closed,” the order reads.

The order did not clarify what “merit, excellence, and innovation” programs would include or how they would be implemented.

Braun said all of the orders he signed Wednesday, including the DEI order, are meant to make state government more responsive and more cost-effective.

“In my campaign, I’ve had such a breadth of support from the entire spectrum of Hoosiers that embrace that idea of freedom and opportunity,” he said.

Then-Gov. Eric Holcomb established the office by executive order in 2020 amid nationwide racial justice protests. NAACP of Indiana legal counsel TyJuan Garrett said the office’s real value came in having someone with a seat at the table who could point out state government’s blind spots. He said loss of diversity initiatives means a loss of diversity of thought, which he said would undercut the very innovation Braun says he’s looking for.

“You can easily get insular in decision-making, particularly if everyone tends to have the same perspective, the same viewpoint, look the same, come from the same socioeconomic background,” he said. “As a lawyer, going through the law process, I know how to navigate that but I have no idea how to navigate the medical field.”

Rep. Robin Shackleford, D-Indianapolis, a member of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, said she wonders what kind of signal Braun’s order sends to businesses. The state’s most recent disparity study, conducted in 2020, found minority-owned businesses win state contracts at a rate far below their relative share of Indiana’s overall business population. Shackleford said that shows relying on merit alone isn’t enough.

“It sends out a message to other states that we are not welcoming, we are not open, we are not looking for a diverse train of thought, that we are happy just being within ourselves,” she said.

This is one of 19 orders put in place Wednesday. Others include eliminating or reducing the number of licenses needed in certain fields, removing educational requirements for state jobs, and the creation of nine different offices.

Click here to read the executive order.

This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/politics/indiana-government-diversity-order.