The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill’s board of trustees has voted to gut funding for the school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) department and give the money to campus police instead.
UNC Chapel Hill’s board voted unanimously to redirect $2.3 million in diversity funding toward campus safety and police at a special meeting on Monday to address the university’s budget.
The move could essentially eliminate the school’s diversity office.
The beefed up funding for campus police comes in the wake of weeks of anti-Israel demonstrations on campus, which have resulted in several arrests.
The school’s budget committee introduced the amendment to cut the diversity budget.
“I think that DEI in a lot of people’s minds is divisiveness, exclusion and indoctrination,” budget committee vice chairman Marty Kotis said. “We need more unity and togetherness, more dialogue, more diversity of thought.”
“It’s important to consider the needs of all 30,000 students, not just the 100 or so that may want to disrupt the university’s operations,” Kotis said. “It takes away resources for others.”
“My personal opinion is that there’s administrative bloat in the university,” Board Chairman David Boliek told the Raleigh News & Observer. “Any cuts in administration and diverting of dollars to rubber-meets-the-road efforts like public safety and teaching is important.”
Anti-Israel protests have roiled UNC Chapel Hill’s campus for weeks. Last month, police detained more than 30 people at a pro-Palestinian encampment where protesters took down the American flag and replaced it with a Palestinian flag.
“When you destroy property or you take down the U.S flag and you have to put up gates around it — that costs money,” Kotis, the budget committee vice chairman said. “It’s imperative that we have the proper resources for law enforcement to protect the campus.”
Dozens of protesters have been arrested across multiple campuses, including at Northeastern University in Boston, Emerson College in Boston, Emory University in Atlanta, Virginia Tech University, University of Texas at Austin, and University of Mary Washington in Virginia.
UNC Chapel Hill is the flagship school of North Carolina’s public university system, which is currently approaching a broader vote next week to replace its diversity policy. The move would reverse a 2019 DEI regulation for the university system’s 17 schools and likely eliminate a number of DEI jobs at those schools.
If approved, the school system’s new policy would take effect immediately.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled against the University of North Carolina’s and Harvard’s affirmative action policies in a decision that has had a profound effect on the admissions processes at schools across the country.