A senior program manager at Washington University in St. Louis did exactly what every diversity, equity, and inclusion program claims it wants employees to do. She spoke up when something felt like discrimination.
In January 2025, her employer’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion split a mandatory training into what it called “shared racial identity spaces” — in other words, Zoom breakout rooms segregated by race. She was the only Black staffer on her team, and told the office beforehand that this would leave her isolated. The university ran the session anyway.
The manager complained internally, then filed a charge with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her department eliminated her position months later. A university diversity official called it a miscommunication and defended the racial breakout rooms as anti-racism work…