DEI ‘concerns’ are nonsense

I’m a typical Iowan working a typical job. I went to the University of Iowa and spent many years there, exposed to a variety of people from different backgrounds and nationalities.

I really do not believe the current anti-DEI panic comes from a genuine source. The ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion are worthy and good, embedded in the idea of the United States from its founding.

In my logic, they follow from the axiom that all humans, of all nations, are equal as creations of an awesome God. It’s true those ideals were realized slowly, and with much struggle, and still imperfectly. It’s still true they’re part of the fabric of America.

DEI initiatives are not an attack on a certain race. They are a statement of values and principles. It’s possible those values and principles are alien to some, but nonetheless, they are at the foundation of all that makes this nation great.

Should an employee of the University of Iowa say they are continuing the same practices as before, in my view, it means that person is honoring the founding principles of the United States of America.

Richard Blair

Oxford