In December 1992, the president of Santa Cruz Operation Incorporated (SCO), a California software company, was sued for sexual harassment by four secretaries. According to journalist Joan Walsh, SCO’s board of directors responded by initiating a companywide diversity-training program as an “answer to the public-relations and employee-morale crises that ensued.”

Diversity-training programs became popular after a 1987 Labor Department report projected that after the year 2000, 85 percent of new employees in the United States would be women or minorities. The goal of such programs is to deter workplace racism and sexism by developing workers’ appreciation of gender, ethnic, and racial differences. Diversity trainers use a number of tools—including discussions, films, games, and role- playing—to enhance workers’ understanding of the problems faced by women and people of color. About two-thirds of major

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