The Chief Equity, Inclusion and Opportunity office in the statehouse was shut down by an executive order signed by Indiana Gov. Mike Braun.
(WFIU/WTIU News)
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed an executive order to eliminate DEI initiatives in Indiana state government Wednesday. The order, one of 19 signed, prohibits state agencies from using state resources to support any DEI initiatives granting preferential treatment based on race.
In addition, the order shut down the Chief Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity office within the governor’s office.
Karrah Herring, former chief equity, inclusion and opportunity officer, was not surprised by the order and had been working with her team to find placements outside of the Statehouse.
“We were prepared for this,” Herring said. “The new governor campaigned on this initiative being removed, so this was not a shock to me or my team.”
Herring said that former Gov. Eric Holcomb created the office to set up an infrastructure for state agencies to identify the underserved populations across Indiana. The office worked with the Department of Education, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Economic Development Corporation to find ways to write better legislation and provide better services.
“We wanted all perspectives at the table so that we could better serve one another and ultimately be of better service to the state and all of the populations within our state,” Herring said.
Herring said that since Braun signed the executive order, people have reached out to her through text, social media and email to express their sadness that the office was closed.
“The most disheartening thing for me was the inability for me or my team to sit down with the new administration to have a constructive conversation about the work that we were doing, to see where it could have played into aligning diversity and inclusion with merit and excellence and innovation,” Herring said.
To replace DEI, the governor wants to refocus on MEI — merit, excellence and innovation. Herring is interested to hear the new administration’s perspective of what that means.
“I think people have this concept that merit and diversity, excellence and inclusion, opportunity and innovation are mutually exclusive. They're not,” Herring said. “These are things that can coexist together. And when people do DEI work really well, those things do coexist together.”
