Editorial: Voices from the academy: a response to President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI policies

Abstract

Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders exemplify the broader responsibilization of inequality – shifting systemic failures onto individuals while dismantling institutional mechanisms of justice. My research on EDI leadership, alt-right movements and gendered organizations demonstrates that such attacks embolden exclusionary practices and legitimize strategic ignorance as an unearned privilege – allowing dominant groups to deny discrimination while deepening systemic inequities. These orders erode workplace protections, delegitimize inclusion efforts and silence critical scholarship. As DEI scholars and practitioners, we must counter this erosion through empirical evidence, institutional advocacy and transnational solidarity. DEI is not an ideology – it is a foundation for equitable economies and sustainable democracies.