Wells Fargo has agreed to settle a federal class-action lawsuit over allegations that it misrepresented its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts, The Charlotte Observer reports. The lawsuit followed reports that the bank held fake job interviews with women and people of color to satisfy internal DEI requirements, without a genuine intent to hire them. Sham Interviews to meet diversity targets The class-action suit stems from New York Times reports in 2022, which claimed that Wells Fargo managers were instructed to conduct “sham” interviews for roles that were already filled.
Wells Fargo has quietly changed its public-facing DEI language, removing all diversity language, according to HR Brew. The outlet compared the financial services company’s current website with an earlier version recovered from an internet archive. The program is now framed as “inclusion and accessibility,” a rebrand that mirrors a wider corporate trend of softening or rephrasing diversity commitments amid political and legal backlash. Wells Fargo quietly deleting DEI from its website In February, Wells Fargo announced that it would no longer need hiring managers to consider a diverse slate of candidates
The Rev. Al Sharpton is preparing to march against Donald Trump’s attacks on DEI efforts. His organization, the National Action Network, is hosting its annual march on Thursday, August 28th. This year, the march will start at the African Burial Ground National Monument at 10 a.m. and then head to Wall Street. In an interview with NY1 political anchor Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall,” Sharpton said businesses need to be held accountable. Typically, Sharpton and his organization march on Washington to remember Martin Luther King’s 1963 ‘I had a
The Supreme Court has allowed the Trump Administration to cut grants issued by the National Institutes of Health in a bid to end federal DEI efforts. The decision was made on Thursday, the 21st of August, with the court being split 5-4 on the ruling, according to The Guardian. The court’s ruling marks a significant reversal, enabling the administration to reinstate grants that it had begun cutting in Late February. The split court decision The case was split among the Supreme Court’s nine justices, with three appointed by Trump, leading to a
After serving at Target for 11 years, CEO Brian Cornell is stepping down from the retailer after it faced low foot traffic and backlash to ending its DEI efforts. Cornell will stay on as executive chairman and will be replaced by Target’s current chief operating officer, Michael Fiddelke, on February 1, 2026, according to a press release. He took over the company in 2014 and transformed the retailer, overseeing a strategy to remodel stores and strengthen the chain’s online business to compete with Amazon. Target’s decline Target has been on
Target has struggled to recover from boycotts and backlash following its rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The retailer’s foot traffic has remained low, according to data from analytics platform Placer.ai. Since Q1 2024, the company’s year-over-year foot traffic changes have closely mirrored its revenue shifts, Retail Brew reports, differing by an average of just 1.2 percentage points over the past five quarters. Scaling Back DEI Efforts In January, Target announced that it would end its three-year DEI goals, conclude its Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) initiatives in
A federal judge has struck down two Trump administration directives that sought to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in schools and universities. Judge Stephanie Gallagher of the US District Court in Maryland ruled that the Department of Education violated the law when it threatened to cut federal funding from educational institutions that would maintain its DEI initiatives, The Guardian reports. The department’s guidance had been on hold since April, when three federal judges temporarily blocked parts of the department’s anti-DEI measures. Gallagher’s ruling followed a motion for summary
Leon Burns III and Open Technology Group are helping Black students pursue careers in data analytics with the DEIB in Black Analytics scholarship. Students attending Hampton University’s James T. George School of Business will be able to receive $25,000 scholarship, which will be split among five full-time junior or senior students ($5,000 per student). “The idea behind the scholarship is to get African American students into careers in data analytics. Data is shaping the way that we’re moving forward as a country business wise, on a sociological scale, economically across
Right-wing influencer Robby Starbuck has been appointed as an AI bias advisor at Meta to help the company’s chatbot be less “woke.” The announcement came after Meta settled a lawsuit filed by Starbuck, claiming that he was part of the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to MSNBC. “Since engaging on these important issues with Robby, Meta has made tremendous strides to improve the accuracy of Meta AI and mitigate ideological and political bias,” Meta and Starbuck said in a joint statement to Advocate. Who is Robby Starbuck? Starback is a former Hollywood director
President Donald Trump has signed a new order that requires universities to share detailed data on the demographics of their incoming classes each year, according to The Independent. The order will allow Department of Education officials to see if universities are still using banned programs that support underrepresented groups. A fact sheet shared with The Independent by a White House official says Trump’s presidential memorandum to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon gives her permission to require “transparency” from higher education institutions receiving federal funds in the form of student aid with a “revamp” of
