Mississippi’s state auditor railed against the state’s public colleges for spending millions of dollars in recent years on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Shad White, a Republican up for reelection, said in a statement Thursday that he has “real concerns about what DEI staff may be teaching or doing at our taxpayer-funded universities.” White’s comments were paired with the results of what the auditor’s office called a “performance review” of Mississippi public colleges’ DEI programs.
Mississippi is just the latest to join a flurry of conservative states auditing the spending of higher-ed DEI programs. (DEI programs can refer to a wide range of efforts, among them strategies to recruit and keep students and faculty of color, or making campus environments more culturally competent.)
Banning such programs has become a familiar political tactic, first drawn up by Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, amid a larger GOP-led assault this year on DEI programming nationwide. DeSantis, who recently launched his White House bid, in late December asked public colleges in his state to report similar spending numbers. The request fit neatly with his crusade against a perceived liberal bias in higher education and broader race-driven politics.
It wasn’t long before Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction, another Republican, demanded colleges account for “every dollar” of spending on their DEI programs — a request that sent administrators scrambling. Then came the Carolinas, South and North. White made the request for Mississippi colleges’ numbers in April, according to Mississippi Today.
“President Trump shut down federal government DEI programs because some taught that ‘virtually all White people contribute to racism,’” White said in a statement. “This kind of language tears us apart, not brings us together.”
Spending on diversity programs accounts for less than 1 percent of appropriations received from the state and the system budget, according to Kim Gallaspy, the assistant commissioner for government relations for Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning.
“Providing programs to retain students so they can graduate and join the work force is a worthy investment that strengthens our universities and our state,” she said.
The auditor’s office surveyed the state’s eight public colleges and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Among its findings, the report highlights funding for a range of salaries for DEI-focused positions like deans and professors, scholarships for underserved students, and money for affinity groups.
The report concluded the state’s public colleges had budgeted more than $23 million since July 2019 on DEI-related efforts, including “at least $10.95 million in state funds and at least another $12.48 million through federal and private grants.” But that estimate, according to Gallaspy, included the entirety of the salaries of employees with “any diversity-related responsibilities,” a detail indicated in a footnote.
Spurred by influential conservative think tanks, several states moved quickly this year to restrict or ban DEI efforts. College administrators have argued those efforts are a crucial part of their public-service mission, and key to reversing decades of exclusionary policies. Four anti-DEI bills have been signed into law, while at least six are awaiting final legislative approval, according to The Chronicle’s DEI legislation tracker.
Unlike other conservative states that have audited their DEI programs, Mississippi legislators have not yet introduced any anti-DEI legislation. They did, however, ban K-12 and college classrooms from teaching students that any race is superior to another with a law passed in March 2022 aimed at critical race theory. But the vagueness of that law, Mississippi Today reported, likely won’t prevent the legal theory from being taught in college settings.
