Conservative activist Christopher Rufo exposes how DEI policies systematically purged an entire generation of white millennial men from elite industries, creating what researchers call a “lost generation” frozen out of prestigious careers despite their qualifications.
Story Highlights
- White men in TV writing plummeted from 48% (2011) to 11.9% (2024) due to DEI quotas
- Harvard humanities departments saw white male faculty drop from 39% to 18% between 2014-2023
- Elite media outlets like The Atlantic reduced white male editorial staff from 39% to 24%
- Trump administration’s anti-DEI efforts are already reversing discriminatory hiring practices
- Rufo frames DEI as “anti-civil rights” discrimination that violates constitutional principles
DEI’s Devastating Impact on White Millennials
Christopher Rufo’s analysis of Jacob Savage’s viral essay “The Lost Generation” reveals shocking statistics about systematic discrimination in elite industries. White millennial men, born between 1981-1996, faced unprecedented exclusion as DEI policies gained momentum after 2014. The Los Angeles Times hired only 7.7% white men as interns since 2020, while The Washington Post maintained just 2-3 white male summer interns annually from 2018-2024. These numbers represent a profound shift in hiring practices that explicitly favored non-white, non-male candidates over qualified applicants based solely on demographics.
The entertainment industry showed equally dramatic changes, with television writers in Los Angeles experiencing a precipitous decline from 48% white men in 2011 to merely 11.9% by 2024. Academic institutions followed similar patterns, as Harvard’s humanities departments witnessed white male tenure-track faculty plummet from 39% in 2014 to just 18% in 2023. These statistics demonstrate how DEI transformed from workplace diversity training into what Rufo characterizes as systematic racial discrimination targeting a specific demographic cohort.
Elite Media’s Discriminatory Hiring Revolution
Major news organizations restructured their workforce through explicit demographic preferences that sidelined qualified white millennial men. The Atlantic’s editorial staff composition shifted dramatically from 89% white and 53% male in 2013 to 66% white and 36% male by 2024. The New York Times replaced traditional internships with fellowship programs where white men comprised only 10% of approximately 220 participants over recent years. These changes occurred as institutional gatekeepers openly promoted “extra consideration” for non-white, non-male applicants.
Rufo emphasizes how this generation of white men largely “stayed quiet” about their exclusion, unlike previous civil rights movements that challenged discrimination through organized resistance. The Washington Post’s hiring patterns exemplified this trend, maintaining minimal white male representation in prestigious summer internship programs until political pressure emerged in 2025. This silence reflected the generation’s understanding that challenging DEI policies would result in career destruction and social ostracism within elite professional circles.
Trump Era Reversal Signals Policy Victory
The Trump administration’s aggressive dismantling of DEI programs has already produced measurable results in reversing discriminatory practices. Universities are abandoning DEI initiatives “as fast as they can” due to legal and political pressure, while The Washington Post’s 2025 intern class included seven white men for the first time since 2014. Rufo describes this shift as taking “a chainsaw” to institutional discrimination that violated fundamental civil rights principles.
Rufo’s successful campaigns against university presidents like Harvard’s Claudine Gay demonstrate the effectiveness of exposing DEI’s discriminatory impact through documented evidence and sustained pressure. His influence extends beyond individual resignations to systemic policy changes that restore merit-based hiring practices. The Manhattan Institute senior fellow advocates for “color-blind equality” that judges applicants on qualifications rather than demographic characteristics, aligning with constitutional principles of equal protection under law.
