What’s New
In a report released on Wednesday, campuses in the University of North Carolina system outlined how they’ve complied with a directive to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts — such as eliminating staff positions, altering or ending programs, and cutting spending.
Across the system, institutions eliminated 59 jobs and restructured 132 positions. The DEI-related cuts added up to more than $17 million, a majority of which was redirected to “student success” initiatives, according to university officials.
At a time when colleges across the country have been dismantling diversity programs in response to political pressure, the UNC report offers a particularly comprehensive look at how a wide-ranging group of institutions approached the purging of DEI.
The Details
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the state’s flagship, accounted for the biggest changes: It axed 20 staff positions, reassigned 27 positions, and redirected more than $5 million away from DEI efforts.
The Chapel Hill campus eliminated seven positions in central administration, including the vice provost for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer. Reassignments include the senior associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion, who in a new role will focus on “professional and leadership development” for students and faculty.
North Carolina State University, a large research institution like Chapel Hill, reported 27 job reassignments, including all positions that had been located within the department of multicultural student affairs, the LGBTQ-pride center, the women’s center, and the African American cultural center.
Fayetteville State University, a historically Black institution with an enrollment of just under 6,000 undergraduate students, was not required to eliminate any positions and reported no cost savings. The state’s HBCUs reported fewer DEI-related changes than its predominantly white universities.
“Job descriptions, the missions of student-support centers, employee training, and the programmatic content presented to students changed,” said Andrew Tripp, the UNC System’s senior vice president and general counsel, according to NC Newsline. “Some campuses have already scrubbed their websites; others are continuing to do that. That is a Herculean task that will continue for sure.”
The Backdrop
The changes in the UNC system come as Republican lawmakers, conservative activists, and others continue to push a national anti-DEI movement. Since 2023, 86 anti-DEI bills have been introduced, and 14 have been signed into law, according to The Chronicle’s DEI Legislation Tracker.
The Chronicle has also tallied more than 200 campuses in 30 states that have eliminated or altered diversity offices or programs.
Last year, North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature banned the use of diversity statements and mandatory DEI training, overriding a veto from the state’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper. The legislation went into effect in December of 2023.
In May of this year, the UNC system’s Board of Governors voted to replace a policy that had mandated certain diversity-related activities on each campus. The system’s new policy emphasized a commitment to nondiscrimination and “institutional neutrality.”
Administrators then had until this month to provide Peter Hans, the system’s president, with a rundown of how they reallocated DEI spending and which staff positions were eliminated or reassigned.
What to Watch For
Selective institutions like Chapel Hill and N.C. State are in a particular bind. Both were forced to axe diversity programs, many of which are targeted toward students from underrepresented racial backgrounds, at a time when they’re already reeling from the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to ban race-conscious admissions.
This fall, Chapel Hill reported a 25-percent decrease in the representation of Black students among first-year and transfer students compared to last year’s class. N.C. State has not yet publicly reported the racial demographics of its fall cohort.
