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Companies seeking to partner with the state of Indiana must affirm that they don’t have any diversity, equity or inclusive practices “that treat people differently on the basis of race and sex when recruiting, hiring, promoting and conducting other employment activities.”
The policy took effect July 1 and is part of a push to eliminate “discriminatory” DEI practices, Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a news release last week.
Rokita’s office is charged with reviewing and approving all state contracts while enforcing the False Claims Act. The additional anti-DEI certification action is undertaken “in coordination” with Gov. Mike Braun and the Indiana Department of Administration.
Also last week, the state abruptly cancelled its 2025 Business Conference and B2Bloom Expo. The 17th annual gathering, hosted by the Indiana Department of Administration’s Division of Supplier Diversity, showcased opportunities for underrepresented companies to contract with state government.
The agency declined to share why the October conference was cancelled, only saying, “Further details will be shared when they become available.”
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In the release, Rokita said DEI “is often used as a cover for policies that violate state and/or federal civil rights laws.”
“No one gets a free pass for unlawful discrimination just because they claim to have good intentions,” Rokita said. “Treating people differently in the workplace or at school based on race and sex is a destructive practice and illegal. We will continue to enforce the law against higher education institutions and working to eliminate this terrible Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion known as DEI nonsense.”
State contracts will still have language prohibiting racial discrimination.
But contractors could experience consequences under the state’s False Claims Act if found to have DEI programs violating Indiana or federal civil rights laws.
The anti-DEI language in new contracts says the contractor “does not and shall not operate any programs or engage in any practices promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), or other similar goals, that violate Indiana or Federal Civil Rights Laws by treating a person differently on the basis of race or sex, such as by considering race or sex when making recruitment,
hiring, disciplinary, promotion, or employment decisions; requiring employees to participate in training or educational programs that employ racial or sex stereotypes; or attempting to achieve racial or sex balancing in the Contractor’s workforce.”
Following a January executive order, executive branch state agencies cannot use state funds or resources to support DEI “positions, departments, activities, procedures or programs if they grant preferential treatment based upon one person’s particular race.”
Instead, Braun has pivoted to “MEI,” or merit, excellence and innovation.
The cancelled business conference
The Division of Supplier Diversity has sought to “promote, monitor and enforce” certification standards for minority and women-owned small businesses since 1983, and added veteran-owned small businesses in 2018. A February presentation describes the mission of the 13-person department as “provid(ing) equal opportunity” to those businesses in the state’s procurement and contracting process.”
A May promotional video on the division’s Facebook page pitches the annual conference as a gathering of over 80 exhibitors, including state agencies, local universities and contractors, where small business owners can network.
“We’re planting seeds of opportunity, pollinating strategic partnerships and cultivating a vibrant, diverse ecosystem right here in Indiana,” narrates Kesha Rich, the division’s deputy commissioner. “… Let’s grow your business together.”
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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If Braun was truly all about merit and excellence, and innovation, then Beckwith, Morales, and Rokita would not have jobs with the State.
Well, give Republicans credit for consistency. They also ended the Republican Party’s own outreach programs.
Timothy is a victim of the public education system, or maybe he just failed every social studies class
Morales and Rokita hold elected positions and even the casual observer should know Beckwith was not Braun’s choice but was elected by roughly 1000 delegates
Political jobs come with zero accountability and virtually zero way to be fired. Recent local examples include Hogsett and Curtis Hill
Suggesting Braun is in any way responsible for any of the 3 or has the ability to remove them is on par with Nate’s Flock of commenters
Hey Chuck, if you’d paid attention in social studies, you’d realize “political jobs” like the mayor of Indianapolis are also “elected positions” as well and they can be fired by the voters if they prefer the alternative …
Sometimes the folks sticking up for the Republican Party here don’t exactly realize that all they really doing is showing why the Republican Party wants to destroy the educational system in this state … easy to fool voters who don’t realize how things work and how they’re being played …
Joe, that is a reach even for you. Nowhere in my comment am I “sticking up for Republicans” and your cutsie comment ignores my main point which is the Governor can’t remove elected officials from office because you and Tim don’t like them. Losing reelection is not remotely the same as being fired in a disciplinary context, but you know that and are just playing dumb
You then pivot to your John Jacob act with an extremist conspiracy theory- “Republicans want to DESTROY education!!” and only you, Joe B knows the TRUTH
All that said, you are the exact target audience for the IBJ, so please carry on
Chuck, you’re the one who called Hogsett and Hill recent examples of “Political jobs (that) come with zero accountability and virtually zero way to be fired”.
You’re welcome to refute what I have to say on education, or really anything if you’re up for a spirited debate …. just maybe construct your arguments better than above, k?
Because it still blows my mind that you continually go after the Republican officeholder who owns the paper as not sufficiently conservative.
White male supremacy is alive and well in Indiana’s Republican majority state government. As a state, we rank right down there with the former Confederate states. So much for being “bold.”
Brent B: +1
“Incompetent, racist men project, tell everyone else that they’re racist and incompetent.”
Excuse me, but DEI is all about RACIAL DISCRIMINATION!!! You don’t see DEI on the field in sports, do you?? Because, for the most part, sports is a meritocracy as all things should be! America finally realized 60 years ago that racial discrimination was an abomination….now the left wants to have the same thing only their way! HELL NO!!!!
Yes, the same people who want to modify museums and take out references to how bad slavery was are going to claim that racial discrimination is a solved issue.
Next they’re going to claim there’s no gender discrimination at the same time they push to make birth control illegal …
Make it 1927 again … the deal is simple. Let the religious fundamentalists have their Jesus-less faith rule over the country while the rich can keep all their money like they did before FDR.
No …but we do see it in management…a lot!
No, John S., DEI is not about RACIAL DISCRIMINATION. Go into almost any professional office: law firms, accountants, bankers, insurance, financial services, and you’ll find people staffing those jobs because of their merit. This has been a growing practice among professionals for 20 or more years. Those jobs go to the qualified. 40 years ago, young women would not have been put on partner track at large firms; Pam Bondi would have spent her career doing family law. Sandra Day O’Connor’s and Sarah Evans Barker’s first job offers out of law school were as legal secretaries…cause girls couldn’t be lawyers…
I bet, John S., you never had to train a woman to be your boss who had no clue, regardless of race, because they wanted to put her on a management track. Ask any woman over the age of about 40 if they ever had to train an unqualified male to run the department because upper management liked his golf game…
DEI is what will make US businesses competitive in the world. Walk into almost any business in London, or even NYC, and you’ll see a diverse group of individuals, racially, gender, age, working together. In the rest of the world this is common. The lack of this in the US after the MAGAts are done will impede the ability of US businesses to compete in the world. We’ll be back to being the Ugly Americans…
Nor, John S. did you see women officials in sports, though they are entirely capable. Or female kickers in the NFL.
But sports performance and office performance are very different. Different skill sets. Different physical requirements. Its those physical skills that drive that sports meritocracy. DEI is allowing intelligence to drive the meritocracy of the office place…
Sorry, Chuckie W, but I am the proud product of private education. Oh, and a Political Science major and Economics minor to boot…
And if Braun really didn’t want Beckwith, he would have worked that convention harder to stop him. But he wasn’t willing to take the stand for intergrity and character and stop it. He let it happen so he wouldn’t have to fight with the MAGAts in the Indiana Republican party. He left his preferred candidate Julie McGuire twisting in the wind. And now we have a Lt. Governor who thinks the 3/5 Compromise was good for the slaves…
As for Rokita and Morales, they are what we in the Poli Sci world call “down ticket” candidates. A simple call from Braun to the Indiana Supreme Court would have ended Rokita. Or to any other well known Republican attorney. There was a push in Republican land to replace Rokita, but it foundered on the rocks of lack of support from the gubenatorial candidates, especially the leading candidate, Braun. Morales was a DEI outreach by Republicans to Hispanic voters. That’s his entire qualification: he’s Hispanic. The party of anti-DEI used Morales as the DEI candidate, and it worked…and we’re paying for it.
Again, Braun could have shown some leadership and integrity and stopped it. The Lt. Governor, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State candidates are not chosen by the primary voters; they’re nominated at the state party convention in the election year and then face voters in the general election. Braun came into that Convention the candidate for governor. It was HIS convention. He could have worked harder to derail these three. But he wasn’t up to the job; he wasn’t up to being the leader needed to handle that task. The Beckwith supporters knew it, and took advantage of Braun to saddle him with Beckwith.
That, Chuckie W, is why we have these three clowns in office…abject failure by an inconsequential US Senator and a spineless governor. The man can’t lead…he can only follow the polls…nope, we can’t remove them (Rokita maybe could still fall to a properly placed phone call…) but we can remember how we got them, and who failed the citizens of Indiana by letting it happen.