The University of North Carolina system’s board of governors voted Thursday on a policy to dismantle the university system’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy this week. According to a new report from watchdog organization OpenTheBooks, the move may save the UNC system the $91,228,507 annually that it currently spends on DEI staffers and other employees in DEI-specific roles.
“Campuses shall continue to implement programming or services designed to have a positive effect on the academic performance, retention, or graduation of students from different backgrounds, provided that programming complies with the institutional neutrality specified in Section VII of this policy and/or other state and federal requirements,” the policy adopted Thursday reads.
The resolution holds that “no employing subdivision or employment position within the University shall be organized, be operated, speak on behalf of the University, or contract with third parties to provide training or consulting services regarding: matters of contemporary political debate or social action,” as those terms are defined in UNC policy, “any prescribed ‘view of social policy’ or ‘political controversies of the day,'” again referring to the university system’s guidelines, or to further ideas prohibited from being promoted in state government workplaces according to North Carolina nondiscrimination law.
The concepts listed include the idea that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex,” that “an individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive,” and that “the United States was created by members of a particular race or sex for the purpose of oppressing members of another race or sex.”
UNC system president Peter Hans celebrated the decision in a Thursday statement, saying that it will lead to a healthier academic climate in the state’s public institutions of higher education.
“Principled neutrality allows us to welcome genuine diversity, which is a plain fact of our society and a great source of strength. Ensuring that everyone is included and supported is core to our mission as a public institution,” Hans said. “But it is not the job of the university to decide all the complex and multi-dimensional questions of how to balance and interpret identity. These are vigorously contested ideas in both our democracy and on our campuses.”
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s board of trustees voted earlier in May to reallocate $2.3 million in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programming to the campus police department in a move hailed by opponents of university DEI bureaucracies as a step in the right direction. However, according to the report, that move cut only about six percent of the Chapel Hill campus’s annual DEI spending and less than three percent of the entire University of North Carolina system’s yearly DEI budget.
According to the report, UNC’s flagship Chapel Hill campus employs 88 DEI staffers and has established 143 appointed DEI roles, with salary and benefits for those individuals reaching $37.90 million per year. Runner-up is North Carolina State University, which spends about $21.32 million annually on DEI staff and employees in similar positions.
Some of the UNC system DEI administrators’ salaries climb into six figures. Leah Cox, who serves as both vice president for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer at the flagship Chapel Hill campus, makes a $317,538 base salary for leading the office that describes its mission as “celebrating all members of the Carolina community,” broadening “our collective understanding,” and fostering “a sense of belonging by uplifting diverse identities, cultures, experiences, and perspectives” in order to “help create and sustain a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all students, faculty, staff, and alumni.”
Vice provost for institutional equity and diversity at NC State Sheri L. Schwab has a base salary of $232,964 for running a department that trains students, faculty, and staff to “become more culturally competent and to advocate for equity and diversity on campus and beyond.”
Kim Ramsey-White, the associate dean for inclusive excellence at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health, whose web page describes her work “in the area of strategic diversity planning in the higher education arena” and who “oversaw the design and implementation of all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives while serving as assistant dean at Georgia State,” takes home $177,714 per year.
Stephanie Brown, a staffer at the UNC-Chapel Hill Medical School’s office of inclusive excellence and community engagement, who has previously “taught history courses that focused on themes such as culture, religion, race, ethnicity, and social inequality” and whose research “sought non-traditional ways to engage with and understand groups that had been historically underrepresented or ignored,” earns a salary of $138,840 per year for her work “to develop policies and programs designed to promote institutional inclusion, especially among faculty and staff.”
Patricia Harris, senior director for education, operations, and initiatives, receives $116,626 annually for her work “designing, implementing, and coordinating innovative diversity and inclusion programming and leadership throughout the university.”
Though OpenTheBooks has been able to publish a “base salary” payroll list provided by UNC, the system has not responded to an April public-records request for information including bonuses, benefits, and any other forms of pay. Because of this, the report states, “the payroll numbers are most likely 10–15 percent higher than disclosed,” and for the total cost to students and taxpayers, the report reads, “tack on another 30 percent for the cost of benefits.” The UNC system has also begun taking information about its DEI bureaucracy off its websites.
The “diversity and inclusion” page on the UNC-Chapel Hill office of the provost website no longer exists, nor does Cox’s webpage. UNC-Chapel Hill has also wiped the pages for its College of Arts and Sciences’ “Dean’s Diversity Advisory Committee” and “Diversity Liaisons.” UNC-Asheville, UNC-Charlotte, and East Carolina University have also removed pages dedicated to DEI from their websites, as the OpenTheBooks report notes.
Alongside the diversion of $2.3 million from DEI offices to campus police earlier in May, the state university system announced in February 2023 that it would no longer require employees or applicants for admission or faculty or staff roles to submit DEI statements as part of the application process in another precursor to the board of governors vote.