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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Controversy

What Put the Brakes on DEI?
6:00 PM 7:30 PM
Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Hall, Rockhurst University, 5351 Forest Ave, Kansas City, MO 64110
09
Sep

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Controversy

6:00 PM 7:30 PM
Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Hall, Rockhurst University, 5351 Forest Ave, Kansas City, MO 64110

Doors open at 5:30 PM

DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) efforts have become a cultural and political lightning rod in recent election cycles, yet many people struggle to agree on what DEI is actually trying to accomplish. It means different things to different audiences—from HR departments to college campuses to the federal government. This program asks whether recent DEI policies in corporate and academic spaces have yielded real progress or gone too far. Was the backlash against DEI overdue, or did it set equity efforts back decades? Our panelists will explore how to empower diverse perspectives in workplaces and on campuses without virtue signaling, and how legacies of racism continue to shape and polarize conversations around DEI.

Program Panelists

Monica Harris is Executive Director of Fair For All, a nonpartisan multidisciplinary organization committed to bridging the ideological divide by focusing on our shared values and interests. Harris received her B.A. from Princeton University and J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review with then-future president Barack Obama. After working for more than two decades as a senior executive of business and legal affairs at Walt Disney Television, NBCUniversal Entertainment, and ViacomCBS, Monica abandoned corporate life and moved with her family to Montana. During her retreat in Big Sky, she made a life-changing discovery: regardless of race, political persuasion, or sexual orientation, most Americans have far more in common than they realize. Monica is also a TEDx speaker, author, and blogger. Her book, “The Illusion of Division,” is available on Amazon.

Pete Mundo has been hosting Mundo in the Morning on KCMO Talk Radio 95.7FM and 710AM since 2018. He’s the longest-running talk show on KCMO in two decades. His show covers local news, politics, and culture. He’s also a regular contributor to local TV as a political analyst. Prior to his move to Kansas City, Pete was a fill-in talk show host for FOX News Radio in New York City, while also spending time in sports media with CBS Sports Radio and Sports Illustrated. His return to the Midwest comes after his radio career began in Oklahoma, where he was a news and sports broadcaster. He’s happily married to his wife, Kate, of 11 years, and three daughters under 7.

Graham Parsons is visiting professor of philosophy at Vassar College and an adjunct instructor at the Bard Prison Initiative. He recently resigned from a tenured position at West Point in protest of changes to its academic program. His research and teaching focuses on political philosophy and the philosophy of war and peace. Among other things, he is working on a book on masculinity and political violence. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Boston Globe, among other places. He writes the newsletter “Philosophy Goes to War!” on Substack.

Mary Ann Villarreal is the Vice President of the American Association of Colleges and Universities. Raised by her grandparents in a rural Texas town with one blinking streetlight, Mary Ann learned early that purpose often sprouts from small places. A first-generation college student and Air Force Reserve veteran, she made her way from Mount Holyoke College (A.B. in Women’s Studies) to a Ph.D. in History at Arizona State University. Her Listening to Rosita: The Business of Tejana Music and Culture, 1930–1955 received the Américo Paredes Book Award, and she has authored numerous book chapters and journal articles. Villarreal has held faculty and leadership roles at the University of Utah, Cal State Fullerton, University of Denver, and University of Colorado Boulder, and believes that expanding opportunity, fostering belonging, and cultivating shared purpose are catalysts for transformation and cornerstones of democratic education.

Our Moderator

Yvette Walker is The Kansas City Star’s opinion editor and leads its editorial board. She has been a senior editor for five award-winning news outlets. She was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame and was a college dean of journalism.

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