University of Florida slashes DEI office, staff

GAINESVILLE — The University of Florida has shuttered diversity, equity and inclusion positions, in an announcement Friday. The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer has been closed, and UF has eliminated DEI positions and administrative appointments, and halted all DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors.

The move was made public is a memo Friday, in response to a Florida Board of Governors regulation on prohibited expenditures, and 2023 legislation signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that bans state universities from spending state or federal funds to promote, support, or maintain any programs that "advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or promote or engage in political or social activism."

The memo said the employees who had a position eliminated would receive 12 weeks of pay and “expedited” consideration for other positions at UF.

Aside from the staff cuts, $5 million is being reallocated into a “faculty recruitment fund” that previously went to DEI expenses. The university said it had to previously report those expenditures to the state.