UNC dropping DEI? (Think again.)

Initially, we got some hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing from the Raleigh drive-by media about how those Republican-appointed meanies on the UNC governing boards were canceling out all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) activities on system campuses.  The money was going to get diverted to law enforcement, we were told.  Then, Peter Hans threw some cold water on the idea.

Well, The N&O has come to the conclusion that DEI and its sinister mission are not going anywhere any time soon:

Public universities in North Carolina have just days left before they must finalize and certify their plans to comply with the UNC System’s repeal of diversity, equity and inclusion requirements. Under the new DEI policy, approved by the UNC System Board of Governors in May, all 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Math — the public high school that is part of the system — must submit reports to system President Peter Hans on or before Sunday, Sept. 1.

Those reports, which will be public documents, must include information about any cuts to jobs or spending that university leaders have implemented as a result of the policy, as well as how any “savings” from those actions will be spent on student success efforts. The new policy, titled “Equality Within the University of North Carolina,” emphasizes nondiscrimination and institutional neutrality — the idea, enshrined in state law, that campuses and their leaders should not weigh in on political or social issues — over the previous policy’s ideals of diversity and inclusion.

Legal guidance on the policy, published in July, did not explicitly call for DEI offices to be eliminated. But the document made clear that the offices and their employees would be scrutinized as campuses worked to implement the policy, and at least two campuses have justified closing their DEI offices by expressly saying the guidance required them to do so. But other campuses have taken another approach, keeping some aspects of their DEI offices intact under new names and reorganized structures. […]

Changing the name but keeping the rest basically the same is the route Sandhills Community College took.  They’re getting away with it thus far.  Surely, similar moves are under consideration at other campuses across the state.

MORE:

[…] DEI OFFICES CLOSE AT SOME CAMPUSES

At least three campuses have completely closed their DEI offices as a result of the policy:

? UNC Wilmington Chancellor Aswani Volety announced in a campus message on Aug. 8 that the university would close its Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion and eliminate its chief diversity officer position. Volety said the decision was “based on policy requirements and consistent with System Office guidance.” Donyell Roseboro, who held the CDO position before it was eliminated, will return to the faculty in the university’s Watson College of Education. Volety said Roseboro allowed him to share information about her employment changes, but information about changes for other employees would be kept confidential “until details are finalized.” Volety said all affected employees “were offered employment opportunities in Academic Affairs or Student Affairs.” When asked by The News & Observer for additional information about the status of the remaining employees, UNCW spokesperson Sydney Bouchelle said the university would wait to comment until after the university’s report to Hans was finalized.

The university’s cultural and identity centers for African American, Hispanic, LGBTQ+ and Asian American communities will relocate to the Division of Student Affairs, but will remain in their physical locations on campus.The centers’ staffing and programming could change as a result of the policy, Volety said, but he did not provide details on those changes.

“The centers will continue to focus on creating and sustaining a sense of belonging for historically marginalized students while also providing support, service and educational programs to benefit all students,” Volety said.

? UNC Charlotte closed its three DEI offices as a result of the policy: the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Office of Identity, Equity and Engagement and the Office of Academic Diversity and Inclusion.No employees were laid off as part of the changes.Instead, 11 full-time employees were reassigned to new positions at the university, The Charlotte Observer reported. Faculty who held part-time duties in the offices “no longer have those responsibilities,” Provost Jennifer Troyer and Vice Chancellor Kevin Bailey wrote in an Aug. 8 campus message. Troyer and Bailey explained the decisions to close the offices and reassign employees by saying the new system policy “does not allow any institution in the System to have offices that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.” A university Q&A website about the policy also directs employees to remove or revise “statements about DEI” from campus websites, and states that university departments may no longer have DEI liaisons.

? WUNC reported that Appalachian State University closed its DEI office. When asked by The N&O to confirm that report, App State spokesperson Anna Oakes said the university would not share information about the university’s efforts to comply with the policy until after the Board of Governors’ September meeting. The system policy only requires Hans, the UNC System president, to review the compliance reports from campuses — not the Board of Governors. Agendas for the board’s September meetings have not been released, making it unclear whether the board intends to discuss or review the reports at that time. Oakes did not respond to additional requests for comment

DEI OFFICES REORGANIZED, RENAMED

Other campuses have reorganized and renamed their DEI offices, often giving them a new mission but keeping other aspects of the units in-place. Those campuses include:

? NC State University, where the former Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity is now the Office of Equal Opportunity.Provost Warwick Arden originally announced in an Aug. 1 campus message that the office would be called “the Office of Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity,” but sent an update on Aug. 16 saying that “Institutional Equity” would be dropped from the new name. The change was effective immediately.Sheri Schwab, formerly vice provost for institutional equity and diversity, will remain at the university under a new title — vice provost for equal opportunity — and will lead the renamed office. The renamed office will oversee a portfolio that focuses “solely on equal opportunity and related compliance areas,” Arden said in his Aug. 16 message. That includes the university’s Disability Resource Office. The university’s four cultural and community centers will move from the former equity and diversity office to the Division of Student Affairs and will be overseen by Carrie Zelna, senior associate vice chancellor in that division.

The centers are: the African American Cultural Center, the LGBTQ Pride Center, Multicultural Student Affairs and the Women’s Center. “These changes help ensure that NC State programs and units are optimized for student success,” Arden wrote on Aug. 1. They will also “strengthen NC State’s ongoing commitment to equal opportunity and to combatting unlawful discrimination and harassment,” he wrote. “For the most part,” Arden said in his Aug. 1 message, staff who formerly worked in the equity and diversity office will move to either student affairs or the new Office of Equal Opportunity. When asked by The N&O for more details on how employees were affected by the changes, NC State spokesperson Mick Kulikowski said the university “may” share additional information after it submits its compliance report. NC State has also suspended all DEI-related trainings, effective Aug. 16, “while we review them to ensure that they are in alignment” with the new policy, Arden said. Trainings that are required by state or federal law or UNC System policy will continue.

? UNC School of the Arts, where the former Division of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging is now the Division of Institutional Engagement.Along with the change to the division’s name, there are also slight differences to the division’s stated mission and purpose. On its website, the new version of the division no longer promotes a vision statement that previously read, in part: “… we commit to an explicit and continual process of identifying and dismantling systems and practices of bias, exclusion and oppression. Education and art making can be transformational forces for change and we are working so that change leads toward justice.”[…]

Yeah.  They love our money, but can’t stand our input on what they do.  *Change a few words here, and a few there, and maybe the “crackers” won’t notice.* (The Marxist programming and stomping on white males will continue without missing a beat.)

We’ve noticed.  And we need to make sure that the two UNC board members on the ballot for November –  Dave Boliek for auditor and Brad Briner for treasurer – get an earful about this.