The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill board of trustees (BOT) voted unanimously to axe its DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) program. Money will instead be allocated to campus safety.The UNC Board of Governors (BOG) in April voted to revoke a state policy mandating public universities to have a DEI office. The BOT called a highly unusual special meeting Monday morning to discuss the school’s budget, where they decided the $2.3 million initially planned to spend on DEI will be put to better use increasing “public safety” on campus, according to WUNC North Carolina public radio. The BOT’s budget and finance committee had earlier passed the “flex cut amendment” for UNC DEI programs, but now committee vice chair Marty Kotishas has called them “discriminatory and divisive.”He did not cite any examples, rather posed issues with the concept of DEI itself. “I think that DEI in a lot of people’s minds is divisiveness, exclusion and indoctrination,” Kotis said. “We need more unity and togetherness, more dialogue, more diversity of thought.”“While we may be an advisory board, we do have the power of the purse. And if we don’t want to approve programs that aren’t in compliance with our (non-discrimination) resolution, then we don’t have to.”According to the vice chair, he and other members on the BOT agree in the wake of ongoing anti-Israel protests on campus, any additional funding should be diverted to protecting students and staff from agitators that “disrupt the university’s operations.”“When you destroy property or you take down the US flag and you have to put up gates around it — that costs money,” Kotis said, referring to protests in recent weeks where 30 people were arrested at a UNC encampment. The US flag was taken down and replaced with a Palestine flag. “It’s imperative that we have the proper resources for law enforcement to protect the campus,” he said. .Budget committee chair David Boliek said it was a “shame” the majority of local Carrboro town council members condemned the university’s decision to call the police to the campus encampments. “The $2.3 million would be an added help to what is probably a budget issue with respect to how much we’re having to spend on law enforcement right now,” said Boliek. Chancellor Lee Roberts, who was present at the Monday morning meeting, did not comment on the diversion of DEI funding.
