DEI addressed at Farmington Hills City Council meeting

FARMINGTON HILLS — In the wake of major corporations, organizations and academic institutions ridding themselves of diversity, equity and inclusion practices, Farmington Hills City Councilwoman Jackie Boleware gave a presentation on DEI at a City Council meeting Feb. 10.

After receiving numerous calls and emails about DEI, as well as being stopped on the street by residents with questions about it, Boleware was inspired to do a public presentation on the subject.

According to her, there are more than 82,000 people in Farmington Hills, with 60 languages spoken.

“It is the most diverse city in Oakland County,” said Boleware, who is a former human resources professional.

Boleware explained what each letter in the abbreviation stands for.

The “D” is for diversity, which includes gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, age, culture, class, religion, and opinions.

The “E” is for equity, which is a concept of fairness and justice.

The “I” for inclusion, “Is what we all feel when our voices are heard,” Boleware said.

She referred to DEI as an organizational framework that is systematic and well-thought-out. It promotes the fair treatment and full participation of all people while fostering an environment where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.

“But what DEI is not — it’s not a code word for Black people,” Boleware said.

“According to the Department of Labor, the No. 1 recipient of DEI is white women, followed by Latinos and Hispanics, Asian Americans, those with disabilities, veterans, LGBTQ+, and in last place are African Americans,” she said.

Boleware said she reached out to some of her friends who work as human resource directors at Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Visteon, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

According to her, ramps so people in wheelchairs can enter a building and navigate sidewalks, subtitles and captions for people who are visually and hearing impaired, changing tables in men’s restrooms, and seatbelt extenders on airplanes are examples of DEI initiatives.

Boleware emphasized that DEI is neither a quota system nor a system to hire unqualified people.

To help make her point, Boleware  recalled a time when she made a decision to hire someone.

“Her skill set and work samples were impeccable,” Boleware said. “She was a graduate of the University of Michigan with a 3.8 grade-point average. She was female, African American and blind.”

According to Boleware, the company purchased a braille keyboard to accommodate the employee’s visual impairment, but other than that she did not receive any special treatment.

“She was the most qualified of all the individuals. We were able to get the necessary equipment so she could do the job,” Boleware said. “She turned out to be one (of) the best employees I ever hired.”

Farmington Hills Mayor Pro Tem William Dwyer said that he goes “way back” with DEI. According to him, it has been around since Lyndon Johnson was president.

“They just renamed it,” Dwyer said. “In the old days it was part of affirmative action.”

Dwyer pointed out that in a previous role, he was in charge of the narcotics division at the Detroit Police Department.

“I had 29 street crews of five people,” Dwyer said. “Every crew had an African American male and every crew had a female.”

Although Dwyer was ahead of his time with diversity, equity and inclusion, which according to him made his departments more cohesive and compatible, he sees some shortcomings with the DEI of today.

“There are a lot of different problems with it (DEI) as I see it. The efforts often fail due to the lack of leadership and commitment of the organization,” Dwyer said.

Colleges and universities, as well as automotive companies and many large corporations are not going forward with DEI, according to Dwyer.

“There has always been the perception (with some people) that it’s reverse discrimination, where individuals are promoted or hired based on their ethnicity or (gender), and the perception they’re not qualified,” he said.

According to Dwyer, there are people who don’t want to see diversity and they resent it.

“One of the problems with DEI is it lacks data. There is no data out there that can prove or support DEI,” Dwyer said. “Sometimes the material — the way it’s presented in the workshop — the presenters do a poor job in the messaging they are trying to send across.”

Dwyer shared some thoughts about the perception that DEI is reverse discrimination.

“That perception leads to dissatisfaction among employees,” he said. “They feel they are being blamed for something that has been around forever — and that’s discrimination.”

Dwyer said that Boleware did a “great job” with her presentation.

There are some changes he would like to see in how DEI and training workshops are presented to employees.

His suggestions include changing the name of DEI to something else, having a collaborative approach among all the stakeholders as to the training and the workshops that employees undergo, and for officials in city government, such as mayors and city council members, to weigh in on the material and how it is presented before it is presented to employees.

Collecting data on the effectiveness and impact of DEI initiatives was another of Dwyer’s suggestions.

According to Boleware, the city has had a DEI director on staff for two years. Some residents think that Farmington Hills should follow the national example and get rid of DEI, while others support it and want it to remain.

“Most of our residents embrace it, and they think it is very well needed,” Boleware said. “Progress has been made in the last couple of years, where people feel that as a city, it is really beginning to embrace its diversity.”