In March, Arts MidWest sponsored a webinar on the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders on DEI.
The webinar was led by attorneys from McDermott Will & Emery LLP. Lawyers were eligible to get seminar credit for participating in the webinar so the language may feel a little technical at times. However, it may prove reliable as legal advice. There was no disclaimer encouraging people to consult a lawyer.
But given that the contributors to ArtsHacker are not lawyers, we encourage you to consult a lawyer. Perhaps even include them in the viewing of this webinar. Especially since the legal landscape may have changed since March 19 when the webinar was broadcast. Some of the litigation and suspension orders they discuss may have been resolved.
Among the top issues to be aware of is that federal agencies have been instructed to pursue cases of unlawful DEI policies among large foundations and commercial and non-profit entities. These efforts may be shifted to smaller organizations at any point.
However, not all DEI focused policies are necessarily illegal. Here is a brief index of some topic points in the webinar.
At ~8:15 in the video, they start to discuss the civil and criminal False Claims penalties for certification that you meet requirements and criteria in contracts and grant agreements. Some certification requirements on National Endowment for the Arts grants are on hold pending litigation. Pay attention to all grant requirements, regardless of source since many entities are distributing federal funds through their programs and will likely have these certification requirements.
At ~14:30 they point out there are no prohibitions on educational/historical/cultural observations like Black History Month provided no one’s participation is excluded.
At ~21:00 they start to discuss legal vs. illegal DEI programs. This is obviously an important section to watch closely. It covers criteria tethered to race or gender; what constitutes quota setting; having affinity or employee resource groups and scrutiny on whether some are provided more resources and benefits than others.
They provide a summary of how the greater market is redesigning policies to move away from DEI while still trying to maintain a commitment to breaking down barriers.
At ~38:00 They make suggestions about where to focus efforts and policies to enact.
At ~53:00 They address the question of organizations focused on serving very specific groups identified by race, nationality, gender, etc.
