This week’s question: “What do you think of the federal government’s drive to eliminate all aspects of diversity, equity and inclusion - better known as DEI - programs from the government as well as educational institutions?
- It’s a good decision. DEI programs include discrimination.
- I get removing DEI from government, but not from education.
- I get removing DEI from education, but not government.
- It’s a bad decision. DEI programs help broaden perspectives.
- I’m just not sure at this time.
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“I think remove the DEI. You should have to earn the right in everything, nothing is given to you. Why should an illegal get free college, it’s not right. I have heard so many people – guys, businessman and construction workers – who know that if they hire these guys who are qualified, they can get the job done in a year.
“With the DEI stuff, you need to hire so many unqualified people due to color, race or creed. Because they don’t know anything, it’s gonna take two years to get the same job done because you have to be politically correct. You may have to repeat everything that a qualified applicant would already know.”
Joseph Timmerman, Hiwassee Dam
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“I think it needs to be eliminated. We have to judge based on the merit and the experience and understanding in an interview process. I was a leader of a private school; I was looking for very specific characteristics.
“I personally didn’t look at the race, religion or anything like that. I wanted to find the best qualified people. I think we need to look at the qualifications rather than forcing institutions to put in a specific person because there’s a percentage to meet. It’s not about race, religion or anything else like that, it should be based on the needs.”
Jacky Egli, Bellview
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“I’m a big believer in earning by merit. I’ve also been a victim of DEI many years ago when I was trying to get hired with a fire department. I had the third-best score on the test, but they were hiring across-the-board first. They had four categories – paramedics, blacks, females and Hispanics. People with lower scores got hired before I did because they were minority. I believe the best person for the job should be hired and it doesn’t matter what color, race, religion or anything else they are.”
Joe Liguori, Young Harris, Ga.
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“It should be removed. I’m very versed on both sides of DEI, and I think people should be hired on merit. If someone is experienced, educated and qualified to do the job then they should get the job. Females excel in certain things, males excel in certain things, Asians excel in certain things.
“If a person or company or the government wants to hire somebody, they want to have the best person. If the government says no you can’t hire this person, you have to hire that person, that’s not right. You wanna hire the best person for the job whatever it is.
“Why should someone get a job or something handed to them when they are not qualified and someone worked for it and has the experience to do it? That’s fundamentally wrong. If I want someone to build something, and they have 20 years of experience, but I have to hire the person with a year of experience, it’s not right – and that’s not an opinion, that’s a fact.”
Raymond Callahan, Bellview
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“I think it should be eliminated because we should be getting everything based on merit. I’m retired now, but years ago I worked with a business that was very successful. It was a minority-based enterprise, and it got special treatment from large corporations. It was helpful for us as a business, but I still believe it should be based on merit.”
Doug Goin, Hiawassee, Ga.