About four months after the UNC System Board of Governors repealed the public university system’s diversity, equity and inclusion policy, we got our first look last week at the changes colleges have made to comply with the new version of the policy.
By Sept. 1, chancellors at each of the 17 campuses were required to submit a report to system President Peter Hans detailing the changes undertaken by their universities to comply with the new restrictions.
System officials did not make the reports public until 10 days after that deadline, despite requests from reporters. Instead, they posted the 17 documents online as a Board of Governors committee discussed them in a committee meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 11.
The reports showed widespread variation in changes across campuses, as my colleague Kyle Ingram and I reported last week. For instance:
- UNC-Chapel Hill eliminated the most DEI-related jobs, at 20 positions. The next-most was at UNC Charlotte, which eliminated nine positions.
- Some campuses, including Western Carolina University and UNC Pembroke, eliminated just one or two positions.
Other campuses, including the UNC School of the Arts, UNC Greensboro and Fayetteville State University, did not eliminate any positions.
NC State University “realigned” the most positions, at 29, followed by UNC-Chapel Hill at 27. Other campuses reported realigning just a handful of positions.
Some of those variances could be a result of the differences in size and operations across the campuses, as UNC System general counsel Andrew Tripp told the Board of Governors last week.
“The larger campuses had more work to do,” he said. “The smaller campuses, less so, but there was plenty of work to be done.”
In all, campuses reported more than $17 million in “savings” from implementing the new policy. That money, per the policy, should be redirected toward student-success initiatives.
“Our focus here, from the beginning, has been to get back to basics, which is our student success,” Hans told reporters last week. “And by reinvesting that $17 million in support for all students, regardless of background and belief, is the outcome, I believe, the board hoped to achieve.”
But plenty of questions still remain about the reports and the changes detailed in them. And so far, answers from university leaders haven’t provided much clarity.
Welcome to Dean’s List , a roundup of higher education news in the Triangle and across North Carolina from The News & Observer and me, Korie Dean.
In this week’s edition, I share what UNC System leaders have said so far about DEI changes, a new inclusive education program at NC State and more.
Let’s get started.
UNC leaders answer questions about DEI changes
Perhaps the biggest question that remains unanswered is whether any employees lost their jobs or were laid off from their respective universities as a result of the changes.
In some cases, jobs that universities eliminated were vacant at the time of the change, meaning no employees were terminated when the job was cut. That was the case at Western Carolina, for instance, where the now-eliminated chief diversity officer position had not been filled for more than a year.
But the fate of other eliminated positions and the employees who held them are less clear. For instance, UNC-Chapel Hill closed the School of Medicine’s Office of Rural Initiatives and eliminated several positions in the department, including its director role. That position, which appears to have been filled prior to the DEI changes, is not listed in the university’s report as a job that was “realigned” — making it unclear what became of the employee who held the role.
Asked last week why the office was closed and what might happen to its employees, UNC Vice Provost Leah Cox — who formerly served as the university’s chief diversity officer prior to these changes — said “it doesn’t look like it was closed yet, and some of the programs that you may see in the report may be being reworked, refocused, reallocated in different ways or moved to different reporting structures.”
Such changes to the Office of Rural Initiatives, if they are happening, were not detailed in the university’s report.
Other university leaders, including Hans, have generally characterized job changes resulting from the policy by saying that “most” affected employees were offered new jobs at their campuses. Still, it remains unclear how many employees accepted those positions or how many were not offered new positions.
“I can’t speak to individuals, and I don’t know that one would be allowed to do so under various employment laws,” Hans said Thursday when asked if any employees were laid off. “But most of the people most directly affected here were reassigned to open student-success positions.”
Asked if he anticipated more positions to be eliminated as campuses continue to implement the new policy, Hans did not directly address the question, instead directing reporters to read the reports from campuses, which he said have “a great deal of detail in there.” The system will “continue to operate transparently as we proceed,” he added.
University leaders have continued to emphasize that diversity remains an important value of individual campuses and across the system.
“Diversity is a reality in North Carolina. Diversity is a reality in the UNC System. It’s a strength. We celebrate it,” Hans told reporters. “We don’t have a singular, narrow ideological focus on it. We want to welcome and support things of all backgrounds and all beliefs.”
I’ll continue to cover the fallout of this policy change in the coming months. If you have tips or suggestions from your campuses, don’t hesitate to reach out at kdean@newsobserver.com.
NC State inclusive education program taking applications
NC State’s new inclusive education program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) is now accepting applications for its first class of students.
Housed in the university’s College of Education, Elevate will offer educational credentials, such as certificates, to North Carolina residents with IDD. The program focuses on five pillars of success: academics, employment, personal development, independent living and social engagement.
“Elevate is a new opportunity for young adults with IDD to come to college, continue to grow intellectually, and explore and find careers that align with their passions,” Elevate program director Tamira White said in a news release. ”They will have access to the rich resources at NC State and in the surrounding communities. We will use cutting-edge technology to provide each Elevate student an opportunity to grow academically and socially, and prepare them to launch their successful careers.”
To be eligible for Elevate, students should be North Carolina residents who are at least 18 years old and are identified as having IDD or have previously been eligible for special education services through an individualized education program (IEP) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.
“A great candidate for Elevate is a young person who is motivated to come to college to learn and grow and who is highly motivated to work,” White said. “Elevate is going to be a transformational experience related to academics, employment and connections to the community.”
The program will begin in the spring 2025 semester with commuter students before residential options become available next fall.
More information about Elevate, including application information, is available here.
Higher ed news I’m reading
- A UNC-Chapel Hill police captain remains on the force despite multiple accusations of violence toward protesters, The Daily Tar Heel reports.
- Applications and enrollments are soaring at historically Black universities around the country, one year after the end of race-conscious affirmative action, Inside Higher Ed reports.
See you next week
Thanks for reading this week’s Dean’s List. I hope to see you right back here, in your inbox, next week.
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