By: Diane Benjamin

The City of Bloomington is now dreaming up ways to keep discriminatory DEI policies by calling them other names:

https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-08-12/city-of-bloomington-to-host-a-free-symposium-discussing-the-future-of-inclusion-and-access

Mentioned in the story: (What happened to the .gov extension?)

All of the salaries came from OpenTheBooks.com. If you haven’t tried the new format, you should!

Michael Hurt salary in 2024: $121,804.15

All of the below are participants, names are in the WGLT story. I couldn’t find a salary for the lady on the top row, far right. She is a DEI employee at ISU. She must be getting paid under a different last name. I wrote about her previously: https://blnnews.com/2025/08/05/bloomington-quit-celebrating-mlk-day/

All of the rest, including Michael Hurt, earn more than $100,000 a year. How did they become successful before DEI policies were in place? Or, are they DEI hires?

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DEI tells people of color they are oppressed and can’t succeed on their own. That is ridiculous since there are many POC that have wildly succeeded because of determination and skills.

This is a colossal waste of time and money. No useful purpose exists. I wonder if participants will be told white people are oppressing them. Marxist ideology is alive and well in Central Illinois.

Bloomington leadership needs to step up and stop these divisive events. Quit judging people on the color of their skin. Quit wasting the hard earned money of citizens. Diversity and Inclusion means the people of merit have no chance of success in the City of Bloomington structure.

That’s a losing strategy for Bloomington and taxpayers.