In the aftermath of the UNC Board of Governors DEI repeal, chancellors have closed at least seven central DEI offices, eliminated 59 DEI-related positions, and redirected nearly $17 million to “student success initiatives.”
Out of all the institutions that gutted DEI programs, UNC-Chapel Hill’s administration cut the most. Six DEI offices are no longer at the university. This includes the university and individual departments’ DEI offices.
Half of the shuttered offices were in the School of Medicine, which no longer has Offices of Inclusive Excellence and Community Engagement, Rural Initiatives, or Scholastic Enrichment and Equity. The remaining eliminations are from the Schools of Business and Pharmacy.
UNC-Chapel Hill makes up a third of the eliminated positions system-wide, with 20 DEI-related roles cut.
UNC-Chapel Hill’s Board of Trustees pushed to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion programming, even before the UNC BOG repealed the system-wide DEI policy. Ten days before the BOG’s decision, the Board of Trustees voted to redirect $2.3 million of DEI initiative funding to public safety.
In his final report to UNC System President Peter Hans, Chancellor Lee Roberts certified that more than $5.3 million would be removed from DEI initiatives and redirected to student success programming.
Leah Cox is UNC-Chapel Hill’s former Chief Diversity Officer. She said that although there is no longer a central DEI office, “many of the programs and systems that were there before still exist.”
“Many of those programs have just been moved to other reporting structures,” Cox said in a conference call with reporters. “There’s no longer a central DEI or DNI office, but some of the programs are still standing.”
This includes initiatives like Project Uplift, DEI fellows and dialogue programs for employees. It also includes events like MLK day celebrations and the Women center’s “Women of Worth” conference. Most of these programs now reside in student affairs or human resources, according to Cox.
However, some of the initiatives will have to undergo changes to meet the UNC BOG’s “institutional neutral standards.”
“(Student Affairs) is going to be working with them to still talk about ways in which that program can change a little bit, but still serve our students in terms of them learning about how to work in programs that support diversity and inclusion initiatives.” Cox said.
Cox’s role has also changed. She’s still a vice provost, but is now responsible for developing student success strategies. Cox defines student success initiatives as supports that help students have “a seamless experience from recruitment to graduation.” She has yet to develop that platform and new programs.
“I believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion at any university is still about student success and access,” Cox said. “And so, while my focus and my passion is still there, the work that I’m doing in this position … is not the same.”
Cox will develop UNC-Chapel Hill’s “student success experience” alongside a “transformational manager.” The new position will be funded with $115,710 that was previously allocated to DEI programming.
A little over $800,000 of DEI funding will be redirected to existing staff. UNC-Chapel Hill administrators “realigned” 27 positions to non-DEI roles. These new responsibilities include roles in faculty and staff development, admissions, and “collective well-being.”
“Some of the (DEI funds) moved with the programs, so the money wasn’t lost, the program wasn’t lost, and the individuals weren’t lost,” Cox said.
However, Cox said there is still a “difficult” human element to these changes.
“When I arrived at this campus just three years ago, folks were worried about inclusive efforts around faculty and faculty hiring, and I think we started to move the needle.” Cox said. “This is one more sort of thing we’re going to have to work towards, but I think that we can be successful. I think the university at large wants to be supportive and move forward.”
UNC-Chapel Hill and other university chancellors will have to continually certify they are following the UNC BOG’s “institutional neutrality” policy. Those reports will be due to UNC System President Peter Hans annually, by Sept. 1.
