“Equality” Won’t Win Like This

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | January 30, 2026 | Stanley K. Ridgley

[karpov]

I reveal here that I have finally read a likable DEI book, one that I found so because—beyond any doubt whatever—this book will infuriate the DEI faithful.

Make no mistake, I don’t like this book in the same way I might enjoy a Douglas Murray takedown of leftist shibboleths or a Thomas Sowell skewering of the economic-egghead fringe. Rather, for DEI proponents, it’s a realistic adjustment of expectations in a post-Floyd era, in which the ashes of DEI doctrine are being scraped from the floor even as you read this.

Authors Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow have at least one foot rooted in the reality we all experience. Their central message, in How Equality Wins: A New Vision for an Inclusive America, is that, for DEI to maintain any presence in corporate, government, or higher-ed circles, the diversity faithful must adjust their expectations to the new social, economic, and legal environment. Otherwise, they risk evisceration by the law and shunning by the public at large.

Yoshino and Glasgow, a pair of lawyers who run their own DEI center at New York University, have earned a kind of “cred” to speak on these issues, and their message is reasonably positive.

How Equality Wins insists that the DEI message must be repackaged for a new era that rejects the excesses of 2020:

From our perspective, “diversity” refers to making institutions more representative of the talent pool, “equity” means treating people fairly, and “inclusion” is about creating a culture welcoming to all.

We’ll leave aside for the moment the demerits of this insubstantial, aseptic, and vague definition of DEI to focus on how the authors want to reform the current DEI movement, which appears to be on the retreat, at least in our universities.

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TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: college; dei; diversity; education

[Nateman]

D.E.I : Didn’t Earn It. Scott Adams was right. ‘Didn’t Earn It’ puts the whole scam into perspective.