Letters to the Editor: White men are being discriminated against? The numbers say otherwise

To the editor: As a longtime educator, I worked to increase the number and percentage of underrepresented groups in administrative positions in the two community colleges in which I served as president. With that in mind, I was quite happy to see that the government has dropped its fight to withhold federal funding from schools on the basis of diversity, equity and inclusion (“‘The damage is done’: Why Trump’s DEI retreat in court may be too late for many colleges,” Jan. 21).

Unfortunately, as professor Shaun Harper of USC said, “the damage is done.” While our beleaguered president believes that white men were discriminated against by the effective civil rights laws of the 1960s, the most recent statistics show that underrepresented groups are still not getting their share of admissions to colleges or obtaining positions for which they are qualified.

To be specific, the percentage of white CEOs of major U.S. companies is between 70% and 89%. Even in Congress, which should represent all racial and ethnic groups somewhat equally, only about 26% of its members identify as nonwhite. These statistics show quite vividly that our country has a long way to go to get fair representation for everyone, even as our president rants about discrimination against white men.

Donald L. Singer, Cardiff