William Jacobson, professor of law at Cornell University, discusses eradicating racism in the higher education system, as well as an op-ed about students becoming less woke.
Goldman Sachs plans to remove DEI Hiring Standards for the board of directors, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The company had removed the board diversity requirement for companies it took public last year, but now plans to remove DEI language from the criteria for its own board members this month. The board’s governance committee evaluates potential candidates based on four criteria, one of which is a more traditional understanding of diversity, summarizing viewpoints, background, employment and military service.
That section also tagged “other demographics” until the end, referring to race, gender identity, ethnicity and sexual orientation, the Journal said. The board now reportedly plans to remove the reference to “other demographics.”
The expected change comes after the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative nonprofit that owns a small stake in the bank, requested the change in September, the Journal said.
Goldman Sachs has rolled back DEI hiring standards for its board of directors. (Getty Images / Getty Images)
Goldman Sachs struck a deal with the group in which the board would make the change on its own initiative and the NLPC would not submit a formal request that would be circulated to shareholders ahead of the company’s annual meeting later this year, people familiar with the matter told the outlet.
The change comes as part of a broader rejection of DEI policies, thanks in large part to the president Donald Trump‘s return to the White House last year.
Trump moved quickly to drop the hammer on DEI, signing an executive order on day one titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” directing federal agencies to eradicate DEI-style programs throughout the federal government. The next day, Trump signed a second order aimed at “restoring merit-based opportunities,” including changes to federal contracts and related compliance.
CORPORATE AMERICA HAS DECIDED THAT DEI MUST DIE
A view of the Goldman Sachs booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
“We have ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies throughout the federal government and even in the private sector and our military. And our country will no longer wake up,” Trump said in March.
The administration has also focused on DEI initiatives at America’s elite universities new financing agreements with Columbia University, Harvard and others.
Harvard has been a key target of the Trump administration’s effort to leverage federal funding to crack down on anti-Semitism and “woke” ideology.
In december, lawyers for the Trump administration appealed a judge’s order to return $2.7 billion in frozen federal research funding to Harvard University.
Harvard banners hang outside the Memorial Church on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Getty Images)
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Harvard sued the administration in April over its attempt to freeze federal funding, arguing in court that the actions amounted to an unconstitutional “pressure campaign” to influence and control elite academic institutions.
