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Resident urges Mesa council to remove DEI policy, citing national rollbacks and lawsuits
Summary
During citizen comments, a Mesa resident urged the council to remove the city's diversity, equity and inclusion policy and said recent federal and corporate actions show DEI is being rolled back nationally; the council took no action at the meeting.
A Mesa resident used the Feb. 3 citizen comment period to urge the City Council to remove the city’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy, citing recent federal contract cancellations and corporate decisions as reasons to rescind the policy.
“Ideas have consequences and bad ideas have victims,” the resident said, urging the council to reconsider. The speaker told the council the federal government had recently canceled 104 DEI contracts totaling about $1 billion and listed several companies that have scaled back DEI programs; he also said more than 100 anti-DEI cases are pending nationwide. “By keeping DEI in place, the city of Mesa makes itself vulnerable to lawsuits on the basis of discrimination and programs,” he added.
Council procedure
The mayor noted that council members could not respond during citizen comments. The record shows the council did not take action on the request during the meeting; staff or council offices may follow up later, the mayor said.
What the speaker requested
The resident asked the council to “please consider removing City of Mesa’s DEI policy.” No vote or staff report on the topic occurred at the meeting.
The remarks were presented as the speaker’s interpretation of recent national developments; the council did not debate the substance during the meeting.
