UNC System repeals diversity, inclusion policies, goals at NC public colleges

The Board of Governors replaced its 2019 policy on diversity and inclusion with a new one that promotes equality and requires schools to report on reductions in force and spending on diversity programs.

The UNC System Board of Governors, which oversees public colleges and universities in the state, voted Thursday to repeal and replace its policy on diversity and inclusion, a move that could lead to the elimination of diversity-related positions at schools across the state.

Dozens of students planned protests about the removal of diversity, equity and inclusion policies and potentially jobs before Thursday's final vote, the last step in a month-long process by the UNC System board. Two protesters were detained in the lobby of the building, far from the meeting.

The 24-member board has all been appointed by Republican state lawmakers. The move comes as universities in other states, including Florida and Texas, have cut diversity jobs.

The vote was not done by roll call, but two board members voted no: Joel Ford and Sonja Phillips Nichols, who are Black.

"Higher education does not exist to settle the most difficult debates in our democracy," UNC System President Peter Hans said at the meeting. "Our role is to host those debates, to inform them, to make them richer and more constructive. That's a vital responsibility, and we can't fulfill it if our institutions are seen as partisan actors in one direction or another."

Hans said higher education must maintain "principled neutrality," saying it enhances free speech rights, protects academic freedom and "allows us to welcome genuine diversity."

Nichols, from Charlotte, said she wanted people to feel as if they had been heard.

"I just want it to be said that there were some people who felt they weren't heard," she said after the meeting. "And that I wanted to say I could say I represented the people who said, 'We didn't feel heard.'"

Gene Davis, a member of the board, said DEI programs and their predecessors "have made our universities feel more welcoming to a more diverse group of people from North Carolina and beyond." He credited the programs with making the universities more reflective of "the richly diverse fabric of our state and have made our universities more welcoming for all."

But Davis, a Raleigh lawyer, said he favored the change to the policy, saying he had been made aware of things done in the name of DEI that made him uncomfortable.

"It hurts when you feel that you're not accepted and that your differences are held against you," he said. "I don't want any student, any potential student, any faculty member, any staff member, any alumni or any citizen of our state to ever have that feeling."

Pearl Burris-Floyd, a retired scientist and former state lawmaker who serves is the secretary on the Board of Governors, worked in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion. She said she hoped that campus leaders would not feel as if the board has turned its back on them.

"Diversity, equity and inclusion — and I must add belonging — are part of growing," said Burris-Floyd, a Black woman.

The new Board of Governors policy calls for each institution to certify by Sept. 1 that it "fully complies with the university's commitment to institutional neutrality and nondiscrimination."

It requires each school to "include a report on reductions in force and spending, along with changes to job titles and position descriptions, undertaken as a result of implementing this policy and how those savings achieved … can be redirected to initiatives related to student success and wellbeing."

In an information sheet handed out by the Board of Governors after the vote, it said "the goal of this policy is not necessarily to cut jobs, but to move our universities away from administrative activism on social and political debates. It is going to take some time to determine how many positions could be modified or discontinued to ensure that institutions are aligning with this revised policy."

https://www.wral.com/story/unc-system-repeals-diversity-inclusion-policies-goals-at-nc-public-colleges/21446478/