At State Dept., a Typeface Falls Victim in the War Against Woke

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/us/politics/rubio-state-department-font.html

https://archive.ph/oBtLT

At State Dept., a Typeface Falls Victim in the War Against Woke
Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Biden-era move to the sans serif typeface “wasteful,” casting the return to Times New Roman as part of a push to stamp out diversity efforts.
By Michael Crowley and Hamed Aleaziz
Dec. 9, 2025

Secretary of State Marco Rubio waded into the surprisingly fraught politics of typefaces on Tuesday with an order halting the State Department’s official use of Calibri, reversing a 2023 Biden-era directive that Mr. Rubio called a “wasteful” sop to diversity.

While mostly framed as a matter of clarity and formality in presentation, Mr. Rubio’s directive to all diplomatic posts around the world blamed “radical” diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs for what he said was a misguided and ineffective switch from the serif typeface Times New Roman to sans serif Calibri in official department paperwork.

In an “Action Request” memo obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Rubio said that switching back to the use of Times New Roman would “restore decorum and professionalism to the department’s written work.” Calibri is “informal” when compared to serif typefaces like Times New Roman, the order said, and “clashes” with the department’s official letterhead.

Mr. Rubio’s directive, under the subject line “Return to Tradition: Times New Roman 14-Point Font Required for All Department Paper,” served as the latest attempt by the Trump administration to stamp out remnants of diversity initiatives across the federal government.


Designers choosing a typeface and font in recent decades have focused more on accessibility. The New York Times; LucasFonts

...

[yardwork]

1. Trump's typefaces are crap.

I'm ready to fight the typeface wars.

[Phoenix61]

2. I like Calibri because it's easier to read especially in 12pt

The bigger the font the more paper.

[Mossfern]

11. When I had to type my Master's Thesis .... a reminiscence

Back in the day of the dinosaur (1972) I was obligated to use Times New Roman in 12 pt. There wasn't much of a choice back then as word processors were first coming on to the market - mostly in corporate settings. I clicked away endlessly at my
Smith Corona portable surrounded by crumbled pages upon which were those dreaded typos. I finally relented and engaged the services of a professional typist.

I must say that the first few times I saw official documents in Calibri I was taken aback. It didn't look "official."
I'm in the possession of some very old documents - mostly hand written deeds and loans - dating back to the mid 1800's. They're almost impossible to read.

I wonder how people felt when they first started typing them instead. One would think that this move to Calibir is a step in the right direction being that the typeface is easier to read.

I'm sorry the Rubio is anguished that these papers don't have the old timey feel.
I seems that this administration wants to go back to the good old days even when it comes to typeface. :sigh:

[TheBlackAdder]

33. OCR scanning tools are more accurate with Calibri. Let's reintroduce errors to be fashionable.

[Johonny]

3. They have no solutions, no interest in helping

People, no interest in America. It's all bullshit, all the time. Trump 2.0 is the worst. Just the worst. They don't give a shit about you.

[newdeal2]

4. Really focused on the important issues

They’re all turning into mini-Trump’s by micromanaging the stuff that doesn’t matter (aesthetics) and completely AWOL on their core responsibilities (substance). Same is true of Pete and Noem.

[Mossfern]

13. Big-Endians vs Little-Endians

See Jonathan Swift
We do live in a Swiftian world these days.

[Hey Joe]

26. To restore decorum and professionalism to the

departments written work?
Really?
How about actually restoring decorum and professionalism to the fucking department?!!
Guess that would be asking too much.

[Bettie]

5. So, they are searching for

something to turn into a problem that they then "solve" to draw attention away from the continual failures of this entire administration?

Yeah, sounds about right: burn the house down, then paint the mailbox.

[Ocelot II]

6. They should go for Fraktur instead.

And it's so hard to read that it's not at all woke like Calibri.

[dalton99a]

8. +1

[UpInArms]

7. Maybe just paying attention to real problems would be more productive

eom

[CrispyQ]

9. A web developer told me that serif fonts are better for hard copy reading & sans serif are best for screen reading.

I've found this to be true. TNR is too much, for small screens, especially, IMO.

[MiHale]

10. Font Wars...

Omg…the kerning!

[C_U_L8R]

12. Don't get me started

You could drive a truck through those gaps.

[MiHale]

19. 😂

[Solly Mack]

14. How racist can you be? Attack a font for being DEI. What next? Ban the colors of the rainbow?

Ban pink because men might be tempted to wear the color?

All clothing sold in white only?

[NameAlreadyTaken]

21. Why don't they just issue us all uniforms.

[eppur_se_muova]

22. SSSHHHHH !! Don't give them ideas ! nt

[Solly Mack]

28. No shit, right?

[intheflow]

29. The idea behind the change was to make official documents easier to read

for people with sight problems, and their assistive devices. That's why they're calling it woke.

The change was meant to improve accessibility for readers with disabilities, such as low vision and dyslexia, and people who use assistive technologies, such as screen readers.

[Solly Mack]

32. Yeah, DEI - diversity, equity, and inclusion or in other words, "woke".

DEI isn't only about race or gender.

[uncle ray]

15. surprised they are not going back to cursive handwriting.

[eppur_se_muova]

23. MAGAts just put an 'X' anyway.

That's why musk changed the name of Twitter -- he wanted something MAGAts already knew how to spell.

[Jilly_in_VA]

16. Seriously?

with everything else going on in the world, THIS is what they worry about? What very small individuals!

[gulliver]

17. I've always found Calibri stultifying.

Calibri is the main font I've used the past several years though. I like Times and the serif typefaces. A random sample of my books shows all of them use serif.

The OP linked article in the Times uses serif. The OP itself is some kind of sans serif. As an experiment, I put the OP in one tab of my browser and the linked article in the other. For me at least, it's no contest. The article's serif typeface first paragraphs are more "enjoyable."

It's a shame that accessibility (very important) became caught up in what I unfortunately think of as the well-intentioned, ill-thought-out, unvoted-for self-own by us liberals branded DEI. SMH. If the Calibri change was just recommended by the DEI office, I would hope the recommendation took the form of some kind of official, catalogued whitepaper with references, but I'd worry that it was actually just a PowerPoint that was put together by non-experts having "those conversations" and reaching "consensus."

The article says that (after the switch to Calibri), "'accessibility-based document remediation cases' at the department had not declined." That's either a decent metric in support of serif or a sleazy wording. Maybe there were zero such remediation cases both before and after the change because such cases never happen.

[Srkdqltr]

18. I think Comic Sans is more appropriate.

[tritsofme]

20. Don't sleep on Wingdings!

[leftstreet]

24. Congrefs should pafs a lawe

[dalton99a]

25. +1

[DBoon]

27. Reality has outdone The Onion once again

[fujiyamasan]

30. For this group of clowns

I’m surprised they didn’t go with comic sans.

Hell, they’re basically destroying the state department anyways and Trump himself can’t read. Wingdings might be more appropriate.

[UTUSN]

31. Irony dripping all over the Dear Leader and his minions (here, RUBIO)

* IRONY: Conservativism is supposed to be about minimum government interference in people's lives. It has long been said that Dear Leader is not only not a Conservative but is not ideological at all, basically just goes by authoritarian whim about what is good for him. So down to the most trivial things, he involves himself in the smallest details of everybody's lives.

* IRONY: Cubans are Hispanics, no? Yet RUBIO first (2015) started by fiercely (as much as he can mildly be) opposing Dear Leader, but in a blink has turned totally loyal. And as an HIspanic has swamped himself to the gills in persecuting other Hispanics into the bargain of any others in an undiplomatic assault on what the State Department does. And here, along with the involvement in the pettiest of details, he turns his attention to *font*. RUBIO, of Cuban Exile heritage, reaped extreme benefits of immigration and residency that other Hispanic branches didn't get - imagine *two* Senators and presidential candidates and extensive colonization of a state (Florida) and significant impact on both political parties (hatred towards Dems, collaboration with Reps). The font is just the writing on the cake's icing.

**** Separating this out as a topic.

[ashredux]

34. Thank God! I've been having sleepless nights over this. I'm so glad Rubio has done something important.

And as the Titanic began to slip under the water, the band played on….

[Puppyjive]

35. This is about as important to me....

As the color of my toilet paper Who gives a shit? If this is what the leader of the state department has to focus on, Houston, we have a problem.

[Dr. T]

36. Repuglicans are like my ex-inlaws.

If they didn't have something legitimate to complain about, they would make stuff up.