A screenshot from the Department of Military Affairs website.
At least three Wisconsin state government websites have been taken offline to ensure “compliance” with President Donald Trump’s executive order shuttering diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the federal government.
Websites for Wisconsin Emergency Management, the Wisconsin National Guard and state Department of Military Affairs were offline as of Thursday afternoon.
The websites display the following message: “In accordance with the Presidential Executive Order, our websites are under maintenance to ensure our compliance with the requirements of the order. We apologize for any inconvenience, and hope to be back online soon.”
The executive order linked on the websites was enacted by Trump on Jan. 20. The order requires, “to the maximum extent allowed by law,” the termination of federal DEI and environmental justice programs, as well as all DEI offices, positions and grants.
Spokespeople for Gov. Tony Evers and the Department of Military Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is unclear what material on the websites might have violated the executive order, or when these websites are expected to come back online.
Laura Zimmerman learned the websites were offline through a social media post and contacted Isthmus. She says in an interview that she is supportive of DEI efforts and was “surprised and frustrated” to see the websites down.
“I was curious to see that such an unrelated-seeming department — the Department of Emergency Management — had a site taken down in reference to this executive order without any explanation,” Zimmerman says. “There's no sense of why it would be related.”
She adds that in some other states, including Illinois, offices overseeing equity-related matters remain online. Zimmerman says she’d like to see more resistance to the executive order from state administrators: “Wisconsin seems to be leading the way, in a sense, here.”
This story may be updated.
Update: Shortly after this story posted, the Wisconsin Emergency Management website and state Department of Military Affairs website went back online.
