WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered diplomats to return to utilizing Instances New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor Antony Blinken’s determination to undertake Calibri a “wasteful” range transfer, in accordance with an inside division cable seen by Reuters.
The division underneath Blinken in early January 2023 had switched to Calibri, a contemporary sans-serif font, saying this was a extra accessible font for individuals with disabilities as a result of it didn’t have the ornamental angular options and was the default in Microsoft merchandise.
A cable dated December 9 despatched to all U.S. diplomatic posts mentioned that typography shapes the professionalism of an official doc and Calibri is casual in comparison with serif typefaces.
“To revive decorum and professionalism to the Division’s written work merchandise and abolish one more wasteful DEIA program, the Division is returning to Instances New Roman as its normal typeface,” the cable mentioned.
“This formatting normal aligns with the President’s One Voice for America’s International Relations directive, underscoring the Division’s accountability to current a unified, skilled voice in all communications,” it added.
The State Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Some research counsel that sans-serif fonts, similar to Calibri, are simpler to learn for these with sure visible disabilities.
Trump, a Republican, moved rapidly after taking workplace in January to eradicate federal DEI applications and discourage them within the non-public sector and schooling, together with by directing the firing of range officers at federal companies and pulling grant funding for a variety of applications.
DEI insurance policies grew to become extra widespread after nationwide protests in 2020 towards police killings of unarmed Black individuals, spurring a conservative backlash. Trump and different critics of range initiatives say they’re discriminatory towards white individuals and males and have eroded merit-based determination making.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Modifying by Don Durfee and Lisa Shumaker)
