UNC Votes To Totally Defund “Didn’t Earn It” (DEI) Program

Chair David Boliek had discussed the cuts before pro-Palestine protests disrupted the campus. Trustee Marty Kotis said the disruption and related arrests made new funding for law enforcement crucial.

Kotis, vice chair of the board's budget and finance committee, cited the "flex cut amendment" that was passed. He criticized DEI programs calling them "discriminatory and divisive.”

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

"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. When you destroy property, or you take down the U.S. flag, and you have to put up gates around it, that costs money."

Kotis and other board members emphasized the need for additional funding for public safety to safeguard the campus from groups that disrupt university operations.

Boliek defended the decision telling the News:

"administrative bloat in the university" would be better used to fund "rubber-meets-the-road efforts like public safety and teaching." He added that he expected DEI job cuts.

To the surprise of no one, WUNC reported most of the liberal Chapel Hill town council signed a letter criticizing UNC for "creating an environment that inevitably resulted in an escalation of force, including the use of pepper spray against its own students." Which, according to the Libs, "invites aggressive responses and only serves to escalate an already tense situation."

How quickly people forget that illegal encampments, trespassing, intimidation of other students, vandalism, and destruction of property are all against the law. The students had already made the situation worse by committing these crimes. Removing them by any means necessary did not make the situation worse; it just got rid of the troublemakers and restored order.

The UNC Board of Governors is set to vote on systemwide DEI program restrictions next week. Currently, all campuses must employ one senior-level DEI administrator.

Kotis disagreed with the restrictions.

“While we may be an advisory board, we do have the power of the purse, and if we don’t want to approve programs that aren’t in compliance with our non-discrimination resolution, then we don’t have to.”

Last month, the UNC Board of Governors had a committee vote to revoke the policy that requires Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices at all public universities in the state. As a result, the decision has been made to do away with such offices. Next week, the full Board of Governors will vote on the same policy change. If approved, the policy change will be effective immediately. Individual university chancellors will have until September of this year to detail how they plan to make cuts to DEI initiatives.

Voting to eliminate something that never should have been implemented is pulling the universities back to a place that they never should have left. Let’s chalk it up to temporary social blindness that has now been destroyed. The important thing is this: those who were blinded are now able to see.

Congratulations, UNC; we pray others follow your lead and also re-enter the light.