Political opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs has been building for years, but something happened last October that felt like a turning point. In a deeply reported article for The New York Times Magazine, Nicholas Confessore cast doubt on the effectiveness of one of the nation’s best-funded DEI programs. Titled “The University of Michigan Doubled Down on DEI. What Went Wrong?,” Confessore’s article added fuel to a debate over whether DEI programs are meeting their stated goals or actually making campus climates worse. In an interview with College Matters, Confessore talks about his investigation, and what it meant for The Gray Lady to take a critical view of DEI.

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Guest: Nicholas Confessore, a political and investigative reporter at The New York Times and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine.

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.