DEI Era Ends in Indiana: It’s About Time Government Stopped Picking Winners and Losers by Race and Sex

Governor Mike Braun has said in the past he wants to run the state like a business. His next step was to fulfill his goal to replace diversity, equity and inclusion with what he called merit, excellence and innovation.

After 43 years of state-sanctioned preferences in contracting, Indiana is finally moving toward a system based on merit, qualifications and equal treatment under the law.

INDIANAPOLIS — For more than four decades, Indiana government sorted businesses not simply by qualifications, pricing, experience and performance, but also by the race and sex of their owners.

One thing Indiana’s governor doesn’t need to learn is that it is not fair for a generation of men or one race to pay for the sins of some other generation, being passed over for less talent DEI discrimination.

That era is now coming to an end.

Gov. Mike Braun’s Executive Order 26-17 suspending Indiana’s Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises program marks one of the most significant reversals of DEI policies in state history.

The move effectively ends a system that, since 1983, granted special certification status and contracting advantages based upon immutable characteristics rather than solely on merit and competition.

For many Hoosiers, the reaction is simple:

It is about time.

A Four-Decade Experiment

Soon all of Indiana will unwind all DEI.

Indiana’s supplier diversity system began with good intentions. State officials sought to increase opportunities for historically underrepresented businesses and encourage broader participation in government contracting.

Over time, however, the program evolved into a system in which government agencies tracked businesses according to racial and gender classifications and established participation goals for favored categories of contractors.

Supporters insisted these were merely “goals” and not quotas.

Yet ordinary Hoosiers might reasonably ask a simple question: Why should the race or sex of a business owner matter at all when taxpayers are spending public money?

Shouldn’t contracts be awarded based on qualifications, value, performance and experience?

Government should not be in the business of asking whether an owner is male or female, Black or white, Hispanic or Asian before determining whether additional contracting opportunities should be made available.

The promise of America is equal treatment under the law—not equal treatment only after government categorizes citizens into “preferred” and “non-preferred” groups.

The Constitutional Tide Turned

The legal foundations of race-conscious government programs have been eroding for decades.

The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly held that racial classifications by government are inherently suspect and must survive the most demanding constitutional scrutiny.

More recently, the Supreme Court’s decision striking down race-conscious university admissions programs signaled a broader judicial skepticism toward government policies that treat individuals differently because of race.

Attorney General Todd Rokita subsequently concluded that Indiana’s supplier diversity system could not be reconciled with those constitutional principles.

Gov. Braun agreed.

His administration has now chosen a different path—one focused on helping small businesses generally rather than dividing businesses into demographic categories.

That distinction matters.

Government can assist entrepreneurs.

Government can simplify procurement.

Government can increase opportunities for small and emerging companies.

What government should not do is classify citizens according to race and sex and then use those classifications to influence the distribution of public contracts.

The End of Official Discrimination?

Critics will undoubtedly claim that ending these programs represents a step backward.

But there is another perspective.

Perhaps treating citizens equally under the law is not a step backward at all.

Perhaps government neutrality is not discrimination.

Perhaps the answer to past discrimination is not new forms of differential treatment administered by bureaucracies.

Hoosiers of every race and every background pay taxes.

They should all have confidence that state contracts are awarded because a company offers the best value and qualifications—not because government officials are attempting to achieve demographic targets.

A truly fair system does not ask business owners to identify their race before competing.

A truly fair system does not grant advantages or disadvantages based upon sex.

A truly fair system judges individuals and businesses on their merits.

A New Direction for Indiana

The Braun administration’s proposed Indiana Small Business Program may ultimately prove to be a better model.

Helping companies overcome barriers relating to size, capital access, bonding requirements and market entry can be accomplished without dividing citizens by race or sex.

Small businesses need opportunities.

Entrepreneurs need access.

Taxpayers deserve value.

None of those objectives require state-sponsored classifications based on immutable characteristics.

For forty-three years, Indiana experimented with race- and sex-conscious contracting preferences.

Now, the state is moving in another direction.

Whether history judges this decision as overdue reform or controversial retrenchment, one thing is certain:

Indiana is entering a new chapter in public contracting—one that seeks to place merit, competition and equal treatment ahead of identity politics.

For the Hoosier Enquirer , the message is simple:

Government should stop discriminating.

It is about time. The Governor is on the right track—keeping going.