Latest news with #Equity
Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Is Pentagon erasing Juneteenth? A mail from Pete Hegseth's office to staff has raised concerns
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth 's office sent an email to staff requesting a "passive approach" to celebrating Juneteenth. Observed on June 19 each year, Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the US and commemorated to end the slavery in the country, reported Rolling Stone. Hegseth, whose work includes scrubbing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) from the US military, downplayed the holiday, requesting that the Pentagon take a 'passive approach' with its Juneteenth messaging this year. Pete Hegseth on Juneteenth This messaging request for Juneteenth was transmitted by the Pentagon's office of the chief of public affairs. This office said it was not poised to publish web content related to Juneteenth, Rolling Stone reported. A Pentagon official told Rolling Stone that the Defense Department 'may engage celebrations that build camaraderie and esprit de recognition of historical events and notable figures where such recognition informs strategic thinking, reinforces our unity, and promotes meritocracy and accountability.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like At Last, An ED Pill for 87¢ That Actually Works Health Alliance by Friday Plans Learn More Undo ALSO READ: Why has Trump dropped Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard from his inner circle to navigate secret Iran action plan? The mandate comes at a time when Trump's attack on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (DEI) across the government, including the US military, which Pete Hegseth has enthusiastically executed. Live Events 'The President's guidance (lawful orders) is clear: No more DEI at @DeptofDefense,' Hegseth said in a January post on X. 'The Pentagon will comply, immediately. No exceptions, name-changes, or delays,' Hegseth also wrote. He posted an apparently hand-written note that read 'DOD ≠ DEI.' Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has continued to promote anti-DEI rhetoric, alleging that DEI policies endanger military personnel. He has not provided any evidence to corroborate his claim. During a Senate hearing last week, he said, "DEI is dead. We replaced it with a colur-blind, gender-neutral, merit-based approach and the force is responding incredibly." When asked by Rolling Stone, the Pentagon said that the Department of Defense "may engage in the following activities, subject to applicable department guidance: holiday celebrations that build camaraderie and espirit de corps; outreach events (eg, recruiting engagements with all-male, all-female, or minority-serving academic institutions) where doing so directly supports DoD's mission; and recoginition of historical events and notable figures where such recogintion informs strategic thinking, reinforces our unity, and promotes meritocracy and accountability." ALSO READ: Amazon's 30-day deadline to employees amid mass layoff fear: Resign in 60 days or... Asked for comment by the Guardian, a defense spokesperson said: 'We have nothing additional to provide on this.' No DEI programs at Pentagon Shortly after he was confirmed as Defense Secretary, Hegseth said there would be "no more" DEI programs at the Pentagon. This was followed by President Donald Trump's executive order ending DEI programs across the government. The Pentagon went on to cancel a slew of historical and cultural annual events, including observances of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pride Month, Holocaust Days of Remembrance, National Disability Employment Awareness Month and Women's History Month. The Defense Department also marked thousands of files for deletion in a purge of so-called DEI content, the Associated Press reported in March. In late April, Hegseth declared that he had 'proudly ENDED' the Pentagon's Women, Peace, and Security program. The initiative was originally established under the Women, Peace, and Security Act, which Trump signed into law during his first term. The legislation aimed to ensure that the U.S. supported the meaningful inclusion of women in efforts to prevent, manage, and resolve violent conflicts through mediation and negotiation. ALSO READ: Trump vs Tulsi Gabbard: Is US President planning to fire US spy chief over provocative anti-war video? Trump signed an executive order in January that eliminated DEI in the military. He also appeared to sound off on DEI initiatives in an address to graduating West Point cadets on 24 May. 'They subjected the armed forces to all manner of social projects and political causes, while leaving our borders undefended and depleting our arsenals to fight other countries' wars. We fought for other countries' borders but we didn't fight for our own borders, but now we do like we have never fought before,' Trump said. He also stated 'the job of the US armed forces is not to host drag shows or transform foreign cultures', an apparent allusion to drag shows on US military installations.
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
US colleges face major tax blow in Trump's proposed IRS rules on race
The Trump administration and Harvard University (above) have been engaged in a public battle over governance issues including Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies. PHOTO: REUTERS The Trump administration is privately considering unleashing what advocates and critics agree would be one of its biggest cudgels yet to pressure colleges to end slews of programmes and practices benefiting students who are racial minorities. The Treasury Department is weighing a change to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) policies to allow the revocation of tax-exempt status for colleges that consider race in student admissions, scholarships and other areas. If enacted, it would take the administration's reshaping of higher education well beyond the public battles with Harvard University and Columbia University. Non-profit status is core to the finances of more than 1,500 private colleges and universities – from wealthy bastions such as Duke and Vanderbilt, to smaller schools including Vermont's Middlebury and Oregon's Willamette. Revoking that would not just threaten billions in additional taxes, it would cut off the pipeline of philanthropy that has seeded and expanded schools for decades. Even groups known to back conservative ideas were startled. 'I've never seen anything like this,' said Mr Armand Alacbay, senior vice-president of strategy at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. For many universities, 'losing their tax-exempt status would be existential, as they're highly reliant on philanthropic support'. The proposal would have to make it through an extensive rule-making process, legal experts say, and even if the measure is put in place and the IRS seeks to revoke a college's tax perks, the school would likely take the fight to court. Non-profit status frees schools from paying corporate income tax, helps them get breaks on property taxes and allows them to sell bonds that pay tax-exempt interest, reducing borrowing costs. It also boosts funding by incentivising donors, letting them deduct gifts from their own taxes. Mr Trump has threatened to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status in posts on his Truth Social platform. He has also signalled interest in challenging it elsewhere. 'Tax-exempt status, that's a privilege – it's really a privilege,' he said in the Oval Office in April. 'And it's been abused by a lot more than Harvard, too.' His threat was swiftly decried as out of his jurisdiction by Democrats and some Republicans. But the Treasury Department's proposals could bring his administration a step closer toward revoking Harvard's tax status and potentially challenging other schools if they do not abide by officials' demands to adopt race-blind policies and programmes. A Treasury Department representative declined to comment. The IRS did not respond to a request for comment. 'Very damaging' Many schools would find it far harder than Harvard to operate without tax-exempt status, leaving them virtually no choice but to bend to administration demands. 'If they revoked Harvard's tax exemption, that would be damaging to Harvard,' said Mr Adam Stern, co-head of research at Breckinridge Capital Advisors. 'That would be very damaging to schools that have less resources.' Colleges have been quietly acknowledging the growing risk to their tax exemptions. The president of Duke University called out 'threats to our non-profit status' this month in a public update on the school's effort to reduce spending. Emory and Northwestern have mentioned similar risks in their bond documents. 'Certainly, this is a new worry they have to deal with,' said Mr Robert Romashko, a lawyer specialising in taxes for Husch Blackwell LLP. It comes on top of Trump administration attempts to freeze federal funding for some institutions and rein in enrolment by international students. Congress is also considering a steep tax increase for the wealthiest schools' endowments. Without Congress The proposals under review in the Treasury's Office of Tax Policy were drawn up as IRS revenue procedures – a form of guidance for interpreting and enforcing tax laws. If enacted, they would pave the way for the IRS to bar non-profit schools from remaining tax exempt if they favour any racial groups in matters such as financial assistance, loans, use of facilities or other programmes, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations. They could take effect without congressional approval. The proposals would amount to a 'sea change' in the IRS' rules for non-profits, said Philip Hackney, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh who spent time in the agency's office of the chief counsel. Schools that have helped minority groups narrow historic gaps in wealth and education in the US could end up getting punished for those efforts. 'Charity has long included an idea of remedying discrimination,' he said. 'This would be a monumental change in terms of charitable law. We've built the whole structure on that basis, and the idea of saying all of that stuff was wrong seems incoherent.' Critics split News of the proposals has stirred excitement among some conservative activists encouraging the administration's efforts to end diversity, equity and inclusion programmes in higher eduction. 'The Treasury Department should absolutely enact this policy of stripping tax-exempt status from universities that discriminate on the basis of race,' Mr Christopher Rufo, one of the preeminent voices of that movement, wrote on X. 'No quarter for left-wing racialism in America's institutions.' The American Council of Trustees and Alumni has also criticised universities over Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies and hiring practices that they allege take race and other protected characteristics into account. Still, Mr Alacbay warned that using tax status as a lever could open a 'Pandora's box' with far-ranging consequences as future administrations pursue their own agendas. 'One should be very circumspect about using tax law as a lever to enforce other public policies,' he said. 'There are many other, more established ways to enforce civil rights laws. I would say let those existing enforcement mechanisms play out.' Others welcome the idea of the IRS playing a more active role, which could extend to other controversial topics. 'It's very easy to see how a policy would apply beyond race' to issues like gender and gender identity, said Mr Adam Kissel, a visiting fellow in The Heritage Foundation's Center for Education Policy. While enforcement might veer from administration to administration, he said, that is the reality of a messy democratic process 'in the absence of clear guidance and language from Congress'. 'It's alarming' For the proposal to become established as an enforceable revenue procedure, it would have to work its way through the lengthy requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, according to Ms Megan Brackney, a tax controversy attorney and partner at Kostelanetz LLP. That includes issuing a formal notice, allowing affected parties to provide feedback, then reviewing and addressing the comments before finalising the revenue procedure. 'It's alarming, but there's a lot that has to happen for this change to be made if they really decide to go through with it,' she said. 'It doesn't mean they can't do it, they just can't do it tomorrow.' The Trump administration has run into this before. In 2018, the IRS wanted to drop rules requiring some non-profits to identify major donors in their tax filings. A federal judge blocked the change, saying the agency had to obey the Administrative Procedure Act before updating the rules. If the IRS' internal guidance is changed, it still needs to follow the law to find the basis to legitimately revoke a school's tax exemption, Mr Hackney said. And despite Mr Trump's views, Congress and judges have not declared DEI efforts broadly illegal or unconstitutional, he said. Charities also lose their tax perks by violating a fundamental public policy. That standard was set in 1983 when the Supreme Court upheld the IRS' authority to revoke Bob Jones University's tax exemption, citing policies banning inter-racial dating on campus. Ms Ellen Aprill, a retired law professor and senior scholar in residence at the University of California at Los Angeles' law school, said it is hard to argue that Mr Trump's stance against DEI constitutes a fundamental public policy. 'The anti-DEI policy from the executive branch is one we've only seen in the months since Trump took office for a second time,' she said. 'Can you imagine the whipsaw if all non-profits had to adapt to the new positions of the executive branch?' It would likely take years for the IRS to ultimately revoke a school's tax benefits through a long, established process including audits and opportunities for remedy, appeals and challenges in court. Meanwhile, Ms Brackney said, the proposal may have an impact on schools, even if it never gains legal teeth. 'It has an effect to wind everybody up and make everybody nervous to change their behaviour, even before the government takes the appropriate action to make it an enforceable rule,' she said. 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Business Wire
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
SolomonEdwards Acquires Pencek Advisors, Launches Private Equity Services Platform
PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SolomonEdwards, a national professional services firm focused on solving critical business challenges for companies undergoing growth, change or compliance-driven events, today announced the acquisition of Pencek Advisors, a boutique consultancy specializing in private equity portfolio company transformation. The move formalizes an existing proven partnership and marks the official launch of SolomonEdwards' Private Equity Services, a purpose-built platform to help lower to middle-market private equity (PE) firms and their portfolio companies accelerate performance, scale infrastructure and drive value creation. Leading the new national service is partner Matt Pencek, founder of Pencek Advisors. The platform pairs Pencek's deep expertise in finance transformation and operational execution with SolomonEdwards' national scale, technical depth and expanding suite of strategic advisory capabilities. 'Pencek Advisors has been instrumental in helping private equity firms address the critical execution gaps that often stall value creation,' said John Gulnac, CEO of SolomonEdwards. 'Together, we're positioned to offer a purpose-built platform that delivers both strategic insight and hands-on implementation, empowering our clients to move with speed and precision across the investment lifecycle.' Clients will benefit from an expanded team of experts, deeper execution capabilities and a fully integrated delivery model that is capable of meeting client demand. Investors and stakeholders can expect SolomonEdwards to strengthen its position within the PE ecosystem, with new opportunities for growth, efficiency and cross-service integration. 'Before formalizing our partnership through this acquisition, our teams had long operated in parallel, tackling the same challenges across PortCos: manual processes, weak reporting, fragmented systems, disjointed data and rising investor pressure,' said Pencek. 'This move allows us to deepen our impact, scale our delivery and bring even more precision to the work that fuels value creation.' SolomonEdwards' new Private Equity Services platform is designed to support private equity sponsors in driving transformation across their lower to middle-market portfolio companies. The service platform is available directly to portfolio companies as well and offers a tightly integrated suite of solutions tailored to their unique needs throughout the investment lifecycle. These include: Finance Transformation – Accelerating close processes, enhancing board reporting, managing purchase accounting, advancing business analytics and optimizing working capital M&A Execution – Supporting due diligence, leading Quality of Finance reviews, planning integrations and executing post-close initiatives Technology Enablement – Assessing, selecting, integrating and optimizing systems that scale with growth. Through a technical advocacy approach, SolomonEdwards serves as an unbiased, independent champion to help ensure that technology aligns with business objectives. 'Matt and his team have distilled what private equity firms value most in an advisory firm: a platform of integrated offerings that can support private equity firms from pre-close due diligence and transaction execution to post-close finance and technology transformation initiatives,' added Lee Minkoff, managing director at Renovus Capital Partners, the majority investor in SolomonEdwards. 'This represents a major leap forward for SolomonEdwards and a big win for the lower middle-market PE community that can benefit from these services.' The acquisition follows SolomonEdwards' recent integrations of Dominion Advisory Group and Steele Consulting, further strengthening the firm's capabilities in financial advisory and tax consulting. To learn more about SolomonEdwards please visit About SolomonEdwards For more than 25 years, SolomonEdwards has empowered organizations to tackle common and complex business challenges through strategic advisory, technical advocacy, and hands-on execution. We partner with leaders across industries to strengthen risk and compliance, leverage data and technology, and keep critical work moving. The result: stronger performance, smarter decisions, and progress that lasts. Discover how SolomonEdwards can advance your business objectives at About Pencek Advisors In the fast-paced world of private equity, the ability to create value swiftly and efficiently is paramount. Pencek Advisors is a team of seasoned experts with over a decade of hands-on experience in executing value creation for middle-market private equity firm investments. Pencek Advisors leverages its cross-functional expertise to help portfolio companies establish scalable business infrastructure, fostering accelerated growth and market-leading returns within shorter hold periods. Every strategy, intervention, and initiative is crafted with the singular goal of driving tangible and measurable improvements in the financial health and overall value of portfolio companies. About Renovus Capital Partners Founded in 2010, Renovus Capital Partners is a lower middle-market private equity firm specializing in the Knowledge and Talent industries. From its base in the Philadelphia area, Renovus manages over $2 billion of assets across its several sector focused funds. The firm's current portfolio includes over 30 U.S. based businesses specializing in education and workforce development and services companies in the technology, healthcare, and professional services markets. Renovus typically makes control buyout investments in founder owned businesses, leveraging its industry expertise and operator network to make operational improvements, recruit top talent and pursue add-on acquisitions. Visit us at and follow us on LinkedIn.
Business Journals
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Journals
Atlanta City Council passes contentious rewrite of tree rules
2025 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Awards Nominations are now open for the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Awards! If you know someone in metro Atlanta who promotes diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, then nominate them today!
The National
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
The gig-economy life of a struggling Scottish composer
John Currie, a wonderful colleague, conductor and music critic, in his early days supplemented his earnings as a street lamplighter in the West End of Glasgow. I remember 'the leeries' as they were known. They carried a short stepladder over a shoulder and a taper with which to light the gas mantles. In the increasing dark of winter smog-ridden Glasgow nights the lamps themselves became mysterious, isolated pools of light in the yellowy-black. In the mornings at first light, the leeries extinguished them. In summer, that would be very early morning and John loved to recount one occasion, about 4am and with the sun just rising, making his way home across Kelvingrove Park and being confused by distant human cries and mysterious thwacking sounds. READ MORE: Aberdeen to become 'party city' as Tall Ships festival line-up revealed He crested a hill and, lo and behold, there was a substantial cohort of policemen playing cricket, the criminals having all, one presumes, gone soberly to their beds. John found me work as a music critic for The Scotsman, though as a junior critic, casually employed, I could only sign off with initials. I disapproved of that. The readers had a right to know who was writing about them, good or bad. Being an indigent, young freelance composer making a precarious living, I was up for anything and took on quite a bit of extra work and walk-on parts for television. The casting agency was friendly to musicians and, as members of the Musicians' Union we had, in those days, some reciprocal rights with Equity, the actors' union. I recall being cast as a 16th-century swineherd in The Borderers, although I was forbidden to use my stick upon a vast sow and her farrow who scratched their backs against the plywood towers added to the ruins of Mugdock Castle, swaying alarmingly under the pressure. The directors from the south waved their floppy arms ineffectually and uttered 'shoo'. These were people whose green welly boots had never graced a farmyard and there was I, who knew perfectly well what I was about, whether in the 16th or the 20th century, denied my vocation. Miraculously, the set survived and I got paid anyway. It was the money we were after, not the glory. We spent hours sitting around waiting to be called for five minutes of action, passing the time counting imaginary sixpences into a piggy bank. The longer the director faffed about, the more we got paid. It could be dangerous. We were untrained extras, not stuntmen, and I remember someone's sword pierced a heavy serge jacket in close combat as we fought it out on a confined area of grass. I got a speaking part in the STV production of Redgauntlet. To my constant chagrin I was always cast as a Redcoat, and this was no exception. Longing to be a Highlander probably didn't help my performance and that was the only speaking part I was ever offered. The predecessor to Redgauntlet was The Flight of the Heron. It was in one of these productions that the Highlander extras had great sport. Filming was not far from Fort Augustus and they had arrived by bus in the field where the shoot was to take place. Everything was shrouded in thick mist and it became obvious it was not going to clear. Their bus was not ordered to pick them up until hours later, so they trekked back to the hotel by a shortcut down through the fields, maybe a dozen of them, in full Highland gear – targes, claymores, beards, kilts, the lot. They emerged from a gate onto the road just in time to see an Austin Mini ditch itself, no doubt the driver confused in the mist. The 'Highlanders', in total silence, surrounded the Mini and its two female occupants and lifted the entire thing back onto the road, then headed off, vanishing into the mists of time. Is there a line between reality and illusion? And if there is, who could draw it? My great moment on celluloid was as an extra in Bertrand Tavernier's cult film Death Watch, shot in Glasgow in 1979 and in which, for all of seven seconds, I make my ill-shaven way across the screen. Such are the brief moments of glory to which one clings with pathetic determination akin to that of a baby whose needs are only silenced by a dummy teat. In the film, I was a down-and-out, queuing for my handout from the powers that be. Death Watch is a horrible and prescient precursor of reality TV and intrusive journalism. Death Watch was filmed in Govan (Image: John Purser)A woman dying of an incurable disease becomes a media sensation, her journey towards death filmed both with her consent and secretly – until she discovers the truth, that there is also a camera implanted behind the eyes of the man she trusts. The film was partly shot in a church in Govan which was in the last throes of its life, being literally eaten alive by dry rot fungus. Tavernier missed a trick or two there. As you entered the vestry under a low stone arch, the spreading stain of fungus could be seen between the stones but it was when you got into the main body o' the kirk that you saw God's handiwork under the severest assault from – well, God's handiwork. We extras were all assembled in the church itself, and where we were is where a very real death watch drama was being enacted. Slowly, inexorably, the fungus, having made a start on the roof beams, was snaking its way down the huge unadorned stone wall in search of more wood to eat. Dry rot cannot eat stonework but it can and does eat wood. The thing is that this wall was so high that the dry rot's search for nourishment, informed neither by sight, hearing, smell, nor touch, was on a long speculative journey towards breakfast. What was even more sinister was that when I went to investigate the carved wooden pulpit, I could hardly get into it as it was filled with vast folds of fungus. So the rot was from below as well as above. This was the place from which God's word was spread forth to the faithful, so if you wanted a reminder of the frailty of life, of the shortness thereof and the little time left for repentance before you were judged unworthy and fit only for hell, then a pulpit being consumed by dry rot was the perfect symbolic place to be. Standing there, I felt a bit like the famous English poet John Donne, who once preached to his congregation from inside his upright coffin: 'Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.' I take comfort in that quotation in that, for once, the doom and gloom does not emanate from a Scottish Presbyterian theology. The English, God love them, can be miserable too. At the other end of appearances, I was once paid to model for a promotional ad for Harris Tweed. I had never modelled for anything and had no idea how to go about it. I got up early and, this time, shaved meticulously. But when I arrived 'on set', the director took one look at me and sent me off to get a proper shave. I felt a little humiliated but now rejoice in the memory of the best shave I have ever had. I was rather looking forward to modelling with a model, but the reality was not what I expected. The model was, as they had to be in those days, and even today, as thin as a rake. I'm sure she looked great on camera. Anyway, we were placed beside some cases of fancy Caithness glass and jewellery and the like, pretending to be connoisseurs. There was no rapport whatsoever between us and it does not surprise me that sales in Harris Tweed do not appear to have benefited from our poor showing. Being an extra in an orchestra is a different matter. How can you be an 'extra' in an orchestra? As an extra, you don't get to speak ('rhubarb' excluded) but surely in an orchestra you have to play? Well, no, not always. On this occasion, some of us got paid for pretending to play. The Scottish National Orchestra – as it was in those days before it, somewhat controversially, applied for and was awarded royal status – had commissioned a promotional video which was to be set to a recording they had made of the Shostakovich Festive Overture. READ MORE: Only working-class unity can quell the far-right flames in Ballymena Why couldn't they just film the recording session itself? Because the orchestra was not sufficiently impressive in size for the video, so they got in some musicians who could play well enough, but not to its standards. I was, rightly, one of these; a mediocre cellist but one who, like virtually every musician that ever performed, knew how to fake it. I guess we have, most of us, faked it at one time or another. So there we were in glorious array – maybe 100 strong or near enough – bows poised, instruments at the ready, watching for Alex Gibson's down-beat for us to commence playing with noiseless vigour as soon as the tape started. Not as easy as you might think. Anyway, that is not what happened. The Overture starts with a brass fanfare, and no sooner did Alex's baton descend than the entire brass section broke into The Dam Busters March, or some such – fortissimo. There's a lesson there. Don't mess with an orchestra. They did not like being asked to fake it. Not their job. Let the film-makers sort it out. They must also have disliked being regarded as visually inadequate and being seen by the public with a number of sub-standard players on the back desks. Each orchestra, within the genus as a whole, is a beast of its own particular species and, when riled, it is a thoroughly dangerous creature. Of course we could scarcely hold it together, the brief opening take was a washout and Gibson was livid. Can't blame him. Can't blame the orchestra. So much for the camera not lying. Anyway, it turned out fine and we extras all got paid for being seen but not heard.
