University of North Carolina to dump 'divisive' DEI, spend funds on public safety

Amid campus protests nationwide and a push to revise diversity policies at state public universities, the Board of Trustees for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill voted Monday to redirect the $2.3 million that funded diversity, equity and inclusion programs toward public safety measures.

The unanimous decision comes ahead of a vote next week by the UNC Board of Governors that’s expected to limit DEI initiatives and may lead to personnel layoffs. The board's governance committee approved the change for all public colleges and universities in April, but the move requires a vote by the full board.

Trustee Marty Kotis, vice-chair of the budget committee, said the funds are needed for campus policing and safety in light of the pro-Palestinian protests that swept through college campuses in late April and earlier this month. At UNC Chapel Hill, 36 demonstrators were detained – six of them arrested – and the U.S. flag was replaced by a Palestinian one during an April 30 protest.

“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,” he said.

Kotis also called DEI policies, first implemented at North Carolina’s flagship university in 2017, “discriminatory and divisive,’’ according to Chapel Hill-based public radio station WUNC.

“I think that DEI in a lot of people’s minds is divisiveness, exclusion and indoctrination,” Kotis said, according to WUNC. “We need more unity and togetherness, more dialogue, more diversity of thought.”

The UNC Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which did not respond to USA TODAY messages seeking comment, says in its website that it aims to “celebrate all members of the Carolina community, to broaden our collective understanding, and foster a sense of belonging by uplifting diverse identities, cultures, experiences, and perspectives.’’

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, a noted UNC alumna, retweeted a story by the Raleigh News & Observer reporting on the DEI story, but she did not comment on it.

Hannah-Jones, who created the acclaimed 1619 Project for the New York Times Magazine exploring the legacy of slavery in the U.S., was appointed to a professor position at UNC in 2021, but the Board of Trustees rejected the journalism department’s recommendation and denied her tenure, leading to an outcry from students and faculty. She eventually turned down the post and joined the Howard University faculty instead.

North Carolina is only the latest in a string of states taking aim at DEI programs in public universities, a move spearheaded by conservatives. Texas and Florida are the two largest states to banish them, behind GOP governors Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis, respectively. North Carolina has a Democratic governor in Roy Cooper, but Republicans have at least a 20-seat majority in both the state Senate and the House.