Barbara Jordan Lecture featuring Atinuke Adediran, J.D., Ph.D., Fordham University School of Law

In 2020, when it was economically beneficial to do so, companies proclaimed the importance of equity and diversity. But as Fordham Law Professor Atinuke Adediran shows in her book DISCLOSURELAND: How Corporate Words Constrain Racial Progress (Cambridge University Press, January 2026), five years later and with Trump back in office, those recent promises have significantly softened or been eliminated altogether. Adediran examines why this type of lip service surged, why the commitments crumbled, and what their unraveling means for shareholders, employees, customers and for the future of racial fairness in the corporate world.