Following similar moves at the federal level, a pair on N.C. commissioners eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion practices from their departments.

In a Thursday announcement, Labor Commissioner Luke Farley signaled that he was ending the use of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) metrics within his department.

“Effective immediately, I am ending the N.C. Department of Labor’s (NCDOL) use of DEI metrics in evaluating the performance of the department’s hardworking employees,” Farley said in a release from the department. “From this point forward, we will hire and evaluate employees based on merit and on their ability to fulfill our mission to protect the health, safety and well-being of North Carolinians.

“I am directing the Office of State Human Resources to remove DEI as a core measurement for evaluating NCDOL employee performance and am also directing that NCDOL managers and supervisors no longer consider DEI as an evaluation method. Going forward, I am adding a performance measure related to safety and health which will ensure that we hold ourselves to the same standards that we expect and require of our state’s employers. Ultimately, my goal is to hire and retain qualified, professional individuals who will provide excellent service to our state.”

Shortly after Farley’s statement, N.C. Auditor Dave Boliek declared similar intentions, announcing his intentions to strike “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI) from internal policies at the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor.

“DEI is divisive and brings little-to-no return on investment of time and resources,” Boliek said. “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.”

Boliek’s statement indicated that as part of a comprehensive internal review, DEI will be eliminated from internal policies at the Office of the State Auditor, including any training, performance requirements, preferencing and directives.

The American Psychological Association, a scientific and professional organization that represents psychologists in the United States, outlined DEI as a “conceptual framework that promotes the fair treatment and full participation of all people, especially populations that have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination because of their background, identity, disability, etc.”

DEI as a framework for recruitment and retention has come under fire in recent years. Its critics argue that it unfairly disadvantages applicants based on race. Last year, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors repealed and replaced Section 300.8.5 of the UNC Policy Manual. According to a statement from UNC Chapel Hill it was done to reaffirm the university’s commitment to nondiscrimination, equality of opportunity, institutional neutrality, academic freedom and student success.

All 16 campuses in the N.C. system were required to either cut or reassign DEI positions as part of statewide policy requiring universities to reassess their diversity efforts. Per the Associated Press, almost 200 diversity, equity and inclusion staff positions were either cut or reassigned.

A recent executive order signed by President Donald Trump shuttered DEI positions at the federal level. With a stroke of his pen on Monday, Trump ordered the “Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), shall coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences and activities in the federal government, under whatever name they appear.”

The order also requires that each agency, department or commission head, in consultation with the attorney general, the director of OMB and the director of OPM, to terminate all DEI, DEIA, and “environmental justice” offices and positions (including but not limited to “chief diversity officer” positions); all “equity action plans,” “equity” actions, initiatives or programs, “equity-related” grants or contracts; and all DEI or DEIA performance requirements for employees, contractors or grantees.

Those officials are also instructed to provide the OMB director with a list of all agency or department DEI, DEIA, or “environmental justice” positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets and expenditures in existence on Nov. 4, 2024; federal contractors who have provided DEI training or DEI training materials to agency or department employees; and federal grantees who received federal funding to provide or advance DEI, DEIA, or “environmental justice” programs, services, or activities since Jan. 20, 2021.

The order also calls for an whether those positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets and expenditures have been misleadingly relabeled in an attempt to preserve their pre-Nov. 4, 2024 function.