Café Inquiry Grand Rapids – IN PERSON – What Is DEI Really About?

Lately we’ve seen a number of headlines about companies changing or eliminating their diversity, equity and inclusion programs. This week at Café Inquiry we’ll look at how and why these programs came into being, and why they’ve lately come under attack. We’ll also look at what the programs are supposed to accomplish and what kind of success they’ve had. In the course of the conversation we’ll examine common misconceptions about the programs and the pejorative term “DEI hire”.  Background materials include this article from Tech Target giving an overview of DEI and what it is supposed to accomplish; this Harvard Business Review article about how and why DEI programs are failing; this item from the University of Michigan about how its DEI programs are important and successful, juxtaposed with this piece from the Tampa Free Press about how the University of Michigan’s DEI program has failed and is on the verge of being defunded; this PDF of an article in the Washington Post describing how the backlash against DEI programs is affecting research into racism and health; and, finally, this 360Learning article about DEI training failures and how to fix them.   Join us for our last IN PERSON meeting for 2024 as we dive into this complicated and controversial topic!

Café Inquiry starts with a short introduction of the day’s topic, followed by casual discussion.

This event is free and open to the public. Donations appreciated, but not expected.

Attendees are able to future propose topics which would align with Michigan Humanist’s purpose: from atheism, agnosticism, humanism, secularism, and freethinking to broader subjects in science and humanities, such as religion, philosophy, social issues, politics, evolution, morality, ethics, and psychology.

Café Inquiry (Grand Rapids) meets each month IN PERSON on the second Sunday and ONLINE on the fourth Sunday.

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Michigan Humanists values the participation of all guests — requests for reasonable accommodation may be made by contacting the event host at least three days prior to the event.

Michigan Humanists expects all guests to engage in respectful discussion. Critiques on views and claims based on merit are allowed, but not attacks on individuals who hold other perspectives.

Any person engaging in disruptive behavior or harassment will be asked to leave, and may be banned from future events pending the severity of the action. Please speak to the event host or contact info@michiganhumanists.org if you feel these expectations are being violated.