00:00How do you interpret DEI?
00:11There was the EO explicitly laid out the details. I don't remember it off the top of my head.
00:17I'm asking for your understanding of it.
00:19Yeah, my understanding was exactly what was written in the EO.
00:23I don't remember what was in the EO.
00:25So right now, do you have an understanding of what DEI is?
00:28Yeah.
00:29Okay, so what's your understanding as you sit here today in this deposition?
00:35Well, it was exactly what was written in the EO.
00:38So any time that we would look at a grant through the lens of complying with an executive order,
00:44we would just refer back to the EO and assess if this grant had relation to it.
00:50Okay, but I guess stepping back from your methodology strictly in terminating the grants,
00:57do you have an understanding as you sit here today of what DEI means?
01:00Yeah.
01:01Okay, so what's your understanding of what it means?
01:06Well, it is exactly what was written in the EO.
01:09Okay, so…
01:10And I don't have the EO in front of me, but that was…
01:12We would always reference back to the EO and make sure that this grant was in compliance with the EO.
01:18I understand that.
01:19Okay, but I'm not asking necessarily about what was in the EO.
01:23I'm asking very specifically about your present understanding of what… of DEI.
01:30Mm-hmm.
01:30Do you have a present understanding of DEI?
01:32Okay.
01:32Can you explain what that present understanding is?
01:36Well, it is just easier for me to be referencing back to the EO.
01:40Are you refusing to answer the question?
01:41I'm not refusing to answer the question.
01:43Okay.
01:43I just feel that referencing back to the verbatim executive order was the best way for us to capture all
01:51of the DEI language.
01:54And so, I think giving a high-level overview of what I could relay as DEI is not going to
02:02do justice what was written in the EO.
02:04And that's okay.
02:05We can look at the EO as well.
02:07Great.
02:07I'm asking you for…
02:08I mean, this is a deposition.
02:09I'm asking you questions.
02:10You're under oath.
02:11Yeah.
02:11You're required to answer them.
02:12So, what is your understanding of what DEI means?
02:15Well, I think I would say, again, that I would go back to the EO to make sure I'm capturing
02:21enough.
02:21I don't feel comfortable saying a high-level overview because it is such a big bucket.
02:28And there's just a lot of pieces of the puzzle.
02:30What's a part of the bucket?
02:34Gender fluidity.
02:34I don't feel like promoting subsets of LGBTQ plus that might alienate another part of a community.
02:58Again, it was just easier for us to reference back into the EO.
03:05Okay, so…
03:06And I don't want to give you a broad overview because it's like, at the end of the day, it
03:11is capturing, it is all-encompassing in the EO.
03:14It's how we did our methodology.
03:17Right.
03:18Do you always refer to EOs to gain an understanding of words used in your typical daily vernacular?
03:28Objection.
03:28What do you mean?
03:30You say that you have an understanding of what DEI means.
03:33When I ask you, you say you need to reference the EO.
03:36Do you need to reference EOs to define every word you use in your everyday life?
03:40Objection.
03:43No.
03:44Okay.
03:44So, what's stopping you from defining DEI to your understanding as you sit here today
03:49on January 28th, 2026?
03:57It wouldn't be capturing enough of how big the topic is.
04:04DEI is a very broad structure.
04:07Do you have a comprehensive understanding of what the topic is being done?
04:07It wouldn't be the most important thing, as you know, and it's done without the bumps
04:07actually.
04:07Do you have a understanding of what's stopping you between?
Comments