Breaking: University of North Carolina Board Slashes DEI Funding, Diverts Money to Campus Police

mai 13, 2024

The Board of Trustees for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Monday slashed funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in next year’s budget, diverting the money to public safety and policing instead.

The measure, which the board unanimously approved, redirects $2.3 million of diversity funding to campus security, possibly precipitating the collapse of the office of diversity and inclusion. The vote, reported by the local Fox8 station, comes amid disruptive anti-Israel protests that have roiled UNC and other college campuses in recent weeks. The board passed the measure after it first cleared the budget committee.

Budget committee vice-chair Marty Kotis said law enforcement needs more investment to counteract the demonstrations disrupting the functioning and stability of the school.

"It's important to consider the needs of all 30,000 students, not just the 100 or so that may want to disrupt the university's operations," Kotis said, according to Fox8.

UNC’s 24-member Board of Governors, which includes the Board of Trustees and is the school's governing body, is expected to vote next week on changing the school’s diversity policy.

Before UNC voted to cut DEI funding, the University of Florida in March closed its diversity department, fired all of its DEI staff, and canceled DEI contracts with outside vendors to comply with a Florida Board of Governor's regulation that prohibits funding of such programs. As a result of the policy, the college shut down the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer and eliminated DEI positions and administrative appointments.

Enacted in January in a 15-2 vote by the Florida Board of Governors, which serves as the governing body for the state's university system, the rule bars Florida public universities from expending any state or federal funds to promote, support, or maintain any programs or campus activities that advocate DEI. A week before that measure passed, the Florida Board of Education approved regulations that restricted public funding of programs, activities, and policies towards DEI initiatives in community and state colleges.

Some elite colleges have pulled back on their embrace of DEI since being accused of antisemitism scandals following Hamas’s brutal invasion of Israel on October 7. Many Republican lawmakers have alleged that the DEI framework at many colleges favors the Palestinian cause while ignoring threats to Jewish students.

Earlier this month, MIT announced that it will no longer require diversity statements in its faculty-hiring process. MIT president Sally Kornbluth made the decision with support from the school's provost and six academic deans, a spokesperson told National Review.

"My goals are to tap into the full scope of human talent, to bring the very best to MIT, 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."