Elon Musk is apparently not a fan of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, arguing that such initiatives are destructive and need to be ended.
The tech billionaire took to his social media platform, X, on Friday to declare that "DEI must DIE," saying, "The point was to end discrimination, not replace it with different discrimination."
DEI policies have come under increased scrutiny in recent months amid a surge in antisemitism on college campuses following Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel on October 7. Critics argue that the programs favor certain "protected" groups while allowing hostility toward others, such as Jewish students and faculty members, in this case.
Musk is the latest addition to a growing list of high-profile figures who have criticizes the outcomes from DEI programs in recent days, amid backlash over the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and MIT all refusing to say during a House hearing on antisemitism that calling for the genocide of Jews on their respective campuses breached their rules and amounted to harassment.
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Following the testimony, billionaire Harvard alum Bill Ackman called on all three Ivy League leaders to "resign in disgrace" and suggested Harvard President Claudine Gay only landed her job in the first place due to the university's DEI policies.
"Shrinking the pool of candidates based on required race, gender, and/or sexual orientation criteria is not the right approach to identifying the best leaders for our most prestigious universities," Ackman wrote on X.
He added later, "I don’t think it will be long before we look back on the last few years of free speech suppression and the repeated career-ending accusations of racism for those who questioned the DEI movement."
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Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has also been an outspoken critic of DEI programs. Earlier this week, he said during a CNN town hall, "I think the diversity equity inclusion agenda has been abused in the name of diversity. We have, at many of our universities, totally sacrificed diversity of thought."
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"I think if we restore true meritocracy in this country, and embrace true diversity of thought, chances are we're actually going to have a bunch of different shades of element, and a range of genders and different positions," he said. "But let it be not a goal, let it just be a byproduct of actually selecting for people who are the best person for the job, and especially in a university setting, diverse viewpoints, as well."
