Was 2024 the year of DEI's collapse?

Diversity, equality and inclusion DEI policies have come under increasing scrutiny in 2024, prompting at least a dozen major U.S. companies and hundreds of universities to drop the once-innocuous commitments.

“I think it was inevitable,” said Conservative activist Robbie Starbuck Fox News Digital About returning to DEI this year after its surge in popularity four years ago.

“In 2020, many CEOs embraced the idea and concept of DEI because they didn't want to be seen as racist,” he said. “Many of them had no concept or understanding of what it was going to become.”

DEI, which often includes prioritizing race, gender, or sexuality in hiring, training, and programming, has been criticized by conservatives as divisive and discriminatory. DEI advocates say these efforts address racial divides and support historically marginalized groups.

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Major companies to abandon DEI in 2024

The private sector's exit from the DEI this year comes after the companies faced increasing pressure from Starbuck and other conservatives to reconsider the policies.

American Airlines It has become the latest U.S. company to agree to reverse its diversity hiring practices after facing a lawsuit from the conservative group America First Legal. put

The AFL said in a statement: “The airline acknowledged that its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) recruiting and hiring violated federal and equal employment opportunity laws.”

Walmart, the nation's largest retailer and private employer, confirmed in November that it would also divest from DEI. The changes included removing sex and transgender products from third-party merchants inappropriately marketed to children from its online marketplace and ending its participation in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index.

In a statement to FOX Business, Walmart said It was willing to change alongside our colleagues and customers who represent all of America.

We've been on the journey and we know we're not perfect, but every decision comes from a place where we want to foster a sense of belonging, open doors to opportunity for all our associates, customers and suppliers, and be Walmart. For everyone,” the company said.

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At least ten other American companies – Ford, LawBoeing, Caterpillar, Harley-Davidson, Polaris, John Deere, Tractor Supply, Jack Daniel's, and Molson Coors—also reportedly pushed back on DEI initiatives earlier in the year.

Other companies with a presence in the United States, such as Nissan and Toyotaalso agreed to wind down some of its DEI activities by the end of 2024.

Starbuck, who has led campaigns against “woke” policies at Walmart and several other businesses, believes that people privately began to cut DEI about two years ago. But in 2024, he said, it became more socially acceptable for people to say out loud that these policies are “toxic.”

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“It was a year when people were socially allowed to just talk about it and accept it. With every company that goes down, more people feel comfortable admitting they have a problem with it.” Starbuck said Fox News Digital.

Amid growing pressure, universities are moving away from DEI

DEI has also branched out from universities across the United States.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, which tracks higher education.Dismantle DEI,215 college campuses in 32 states have made changes to their DEI policies.

Public universities in several states closed their DEI offices after lawmakers passed or approved legislation to ban state DEI funding.

After the Florida Board of Regents permanently banned taxpayer dollars Used to fund DEI programs In state schools in January, the University of Florida fired all employees in DEI positions to comply with the new regulations.

A top Midwestern university becomes the latest college to buck DEI's initiatives as a national trend.

University of Texas at Austin It also closed its DEI offices to comply with a new state law banning DEI offices at public universities. The Anti-DEI Act, signed into law by Governor Abbott in 2023, also restricts universities from using diversity statements in their hiring and training practices.

Alabama, Iowa and Utah reportedly joined Texas and Florida in banning DEI offices on public universities this year. Inside Higher Ed.

Kansas and Idaho also passed laws prohibiting public institutions from requiring diversity statements in hiring or admissions decisions.

Boise State University became one of the latest schools to close its equity centers On November 29And then the University of Michigan eliminated DEI statements as part of its faculty hiring, promotion and tenure requirements in December.

DEI still has a strong hold on most of America's top companies

While several top businesses pulled back from DEI in 2024, most of the nation's largest companies still maintain some form of commitment to these practices. A recent report from the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation.

Heritage looked at company statements, annual reports and other publicly available documents from every Fortune 500 company and found that 485 of the top 500 still maintain DEI priorities.

The British car manufacturer Jaguar was one of the companies that significantly It doubled After facing criticism, the brand “awakened” them with its recent rebranding in a new direction.

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Starbuck knows his fight against the “woke” ideology in top corporate America is far from over.

He predicted that some businesses would “do the right thing” by disbanding the DEI, while others would try to sneak it in under other names.

“We have work left to institutionally get rid of the wiring and the foundations here, because a lot of this stuff is so deeply embedded in our society that most people don't even realize it,” he said. ”

He continued: “DEI is a wounded animal, so expect desperate maneuvers from the people who pushed it.” But that means we are at the beginning of its death.

Fox News' Alec Schimmel contributed to this report.