Feeling emboldened, NC agencies taking ASAP approach to DEI efforts

by Lucas Thomae, Carolina Public Press
February 7, 2025

State departments and agencies have begun to scale back their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts — some openly, others quietly.

State Auditor Dave Boliek and Labor Commissioner Luke Farley, both freshly-elected Republicans, announced their intentions to eliminate DEI from their internal policies in late January press releases.

Their announcements came on the heels of President Donald Trump issuing several executive actions that take aim at DEI efforts in the federal government. Nationwide polling suggests that Americans are about evenly divided on the issue. However, surveys from the Pew Research  Center in 2023 and 2024 show that public support for DEI initiatives might be waning.

Additionally, a number of top companies and major colleges have scrapped DEI programs despite making significant investments to establish them just years earlier.

Taking cues from the national party leadership, some Republican state officials like Boliek and Farley have taken aim at DEI since coming to power after the 2024 elections.

In a late January press release, Boliek argued that “the negative effects of DEI are backed by years of research and studies.”

“DEI is divisive and brings little-to-no return on investment of time and resources. My goal in the Auditor’s Office is to establish a professional workplace where individuals are valued and measured based on merit. Corporations across the country are abandoning DEI, as are colleges and universities, and it’s time for the government to do the same,” the release read.

But skepticism about DEI is not solely a Republican trait it seems.

Other agencies that fall under the umbrella of the executive branch — even those led by Democratic appointees — seem to have gotten cold feet over their diversity initiatives, which in some cases included hiring DEI-specific personnel.

The Departments of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Public Safety and Health and Human Services have all taken steps to distance themselves from DEI with little fanfare, Carolina Public Press has learned.

‘Diversity’ cut from the list

Both the Office of the State Auditor and the Department of Labor said they will no longer consider DEI as a performance measure for their employees.

Performance assessments for state government employees are structured according to a system created by The Office of State Human Resources. Each year, agencies must select certain values to use as a guideline to assess workers. Those values are derived from a list provided by the state.

“Diversity, equity and inclusion” was one of 22 included on the list from last year’s assessment cycle.

So when Boliek and Farley — who declined requests to be interviewed — announced they were eliminating DEI as a performance measure, it meant that “diversity, equity and inclusion” will not factor into upcoming employee reviews.

There’s no indication that either agency’s actions will affect the job status of any of their staff members. A spokesperson from Boliek’s office confirmed that there is nobody on staff with DEI-specific duties.

However, Boliek said in his press release that his office would be conducting an “internal review” in order to identify and scrub diversity, equity and inclusion standards across the department.

Party lines

Other Republican-run state agencies are following suit or already have been.

An official from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which has been led by Commissioner Steve Troxler since 2005, said that the agency also planned to drop DEI from its performance assessments.

The change, which mirrored the actions of the Department of Labor and Office of the State Auditor, was not publicly announced.

Meanwhile, spokespeople from the Department of Insurance and the Office of the State Treasurer told CPP that their internal policies had no DEI initiatives to eliminate.

“I applaud the actions taken by Auditor Boliek and Commissioner Farley,” said State Treasurer Brad Briner in a statement. “I am grateful to be in a position in which we are not forced to remove unfair performance evaluation metrics and can instead focus on valuing employees for the important contributions they make to our state.”

What’s in name?

State agencies headed by Democratic leadership, both elected and non-elected, have generally been more open about their efforts related to diversity and inclusion practices at their workplaces.

That may no longer be the case, as illustrated by the Departments of Health and Human Services and Public Safety removing references to DEI from within their offices beginning last year.

In 2024, the state health department changed the name of its DEI office to the “Office of People, Culture and Belonging.” The reason for the change was to “allow for a greater understanding and flexibility in viewing the work of the office,” the department explained in its annual Equal Employment Opportunity plan.

CPP requested interviews with top leaders, but was told by a spokesperson that “staff are not available.”

Additionally, the department did not respond when asked if it intends to continue operations at the Office of People, Culture and Belonging for the foreseeable future.

Similar changes are taking place at the Department of Public Safety. Since 2022, one of the department’s top leaders, Sherry Hunter, had been the deputy secretary for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Law Enforcement. Her job was to “help DPS achieve the departmental goal of reflecting and representing North Carolinians from all walks of life.”

In August, however, Hunter’s title was changed to “Deputy Secretary for Law Enforcement and Strategic Relations” although her job description remained the same.

She recently began a new role as “Deputy Secretary of Professional Standards” — a change which has yet to be announced publicly or reflected on the department website.

Spokeswoman Laura Hourigan told CPP that Hunter will be leading an entirely different section of the department in this new job. 

The department does not intend to hire a replacement for her previous DEI-specific position.

This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.