Multiple indicators since late 2023 support Friedberg’s prediction that the DEI movement would be heavily questioned and lose support among prior institutional backers.

1. Legal and institutional rollback. Since 2023, a growing number of U.S. states have passed laws restricting or banning DEI programs in public institutions (e.g., Alabama’s SB129 in 2024; later measures in states like Utah, Wyoming, Texas, and Ohio that limit or prohibit DEI offices, hiring and programming in schools and universities).(theguardian.com) Major universities that had previously promoted DEI, such as the University of Florida and the University of Michigan, have shut down central DEI offices or programs in response to these laws and federal pressure, a clear sign of institutional retreat.(nypost.com)

2. Corporate pullback and reassessment. Following intense political and legal scrutiny, many large U.S. companies (e.g., Meta, Target, Disney, Amazon, McDonald’s, Pepsi, Boeing, Walmart, Lowe’s, Harley‑Davidson, Salesforce and others) have scaled back or rebranded DEI initiatives—dropping diversity targets, disbanding DEI teams, ending supplier‑diversity goals, or scrubbing DEI language from public filings and websites.(time.com) This is consistent with DEI “taking a big hit” in major institutions that had been among its strongest adopters after 2020.

3. Donors and prior supporters questioning DEI. Prominent donors to elite universities have publicly cut or paused funding while explicitly blaming DEI agendas: a major Cornell donor announced he would stop general contributions unless the university abandons DEI; billionaire Ken Griffin, after giving Harvard roughly $300 million, said he is “not interested” in further funding and criticized the university’s DEI direction; other wealthy alumni and figures like Elon Musk have similarly targeted university DEI structures.(breitbart.com) There are also federal partnership and funding threats tied specifically to DEI hiring and policies at universities, further pressuring institutions that once embraced these frameworks.(theguardian.com)

4. Public opinion: more questioning, not total collapse. Polling is mixed: some surveys show majorities still regarding corporate DEI efforts as a “good thing,” while others find large shares of Americans favor eliminating DEI programs in government and schools or closing federal DEI offices.(washingtonpost.com) At the same time, some philanthropic efforts explicitly grounded in racial equity and DEI‑adjacent goals (e.g., the Black Freedom Fund’s new endowment) continue to attract committed donors, indicating the movement retains pockets of strong support even amid backlash.(apnews.com)

Overall, by late 2025 DEI has not disappeared, but it has clearly been heavily questioned and materially scaled back in laws, universities, corporations, and among some major donors and former institutional champions. That pattern matches Friedberg’s qualitative prediction, so the best judgment is that it was right.