Thursday, October 29, 2020

On Sept. 22, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) banning federal contractors from conducting training “based on race and sex stereotyping,” as well as training that “portrays certain races as oppressors.” The EO targets “divisive ideologies,” and explains that it became necessary “to combat a radical ideology that has infiltrated diversity training throughout American institutions.” Additionally, the EO requires that agencies review their grant programs and orders the agencies to identify programs that would require a recipient to certify that they would not use Federal funds to promote concepts of “divisive ideologies.” At a recent meeting of national arts service organizations, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Mary Anne Carter stated that the NEA’s offices of General Counsel and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission were currently reviewing the EO, but she anticipated that the order would likely not have any impact.

Americans for the Arts strongly opposes this EO and has subsequently signed onto two coalition letters—one led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) and one led by several nonprofits—that request President Trump rescind the EO. The Chamber letter focused more on the federal contractor angle, while the other letter was more specific to nonprofits. You can view the Chamber letter here and the nonprofit letter here, and you can see more information on the EO from our coalition partners, National Council of Nonprofits and Independent Sector. This EO, like others signed by President Trump, is expected to be under legal challenge, and it can be rescinded by a new administration.