The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees has voted to end its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in the wake of massive anti-Israel demonstrations on campus.
“The unanimous decision by the trustees will reallocate $2.3 million that the university spends on DEI programs toward police and public safety measures as part of its annual budget approval process,” noted Fox News, adding:
The proposed policy change would impact a diversity, equity and inclusion regulation adopted in 2019. It defines the roles of various DEI positions – such as a system office diversity and inclusion liaison and diversity officers across the university system – and the establishment of a diversity and inclusion council made up of members representing each university, according to the policy.
David Boliek, UNC Board Chair, later told News & Observer that the university has suffered from “administrative bloat,” believing that jobs will be cut as a result of severing the DEI programs. He did, however, specify that the university had been considering the policy change before the anti-Israel protests that rocked the campus and so many others this past month.
“My personal opinion is that there’s administrative bloat in the university,” Boliek said. “Any cuts in administration and diverting of dollars to rubber-meets-the-road efforts like public safety and teaching is important.”
Trustee Marty Kotis said the protests helped the university realize that police and law enforcement needed more funding on campus.
“It’s important to consider the needs of all 30,000 students, not just 100 or so that may want to disrupt the university’s operations,” Kotis told the newspaper.
As Breitbart News recently reported, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced last week that faculty candidates will no longer be asked to provide diversity statements during the application process. Before the switch, faculty candidates were required to “explain how they would enhance the university’s commitment to diversity,” according to the New York Times.
“Such statements have become enshrined in faculty hiring at many elite public and private universities, as well as in corporate life. Academics have defended them as necessary in judging whether a faculty member can reach out to an increasingly diverse student body,” added the Times.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth said such statements were just compelled speech and did not help the university achieve its goal of excellence.
“My goals are to tap into the full scope of human talent, to bring the very best to M.I.T. and to make sure they thrive once here,” Kornbluth said in a statement. “We can build an inclusive environment in many ways, but compelled statements impinge on freedom of expression, and they don’t work.”
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