On Monday, the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill stated that it would redirect the entire $2.3 million diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) budget to public safety and policing.
Some members of the board of trustees, who voted in favor of the divestment, cited students’ recent anti-war protests as justification for shifting funds to campus police.
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Monday’s unanimous board vote affects UNC Chapel Hill’s diversity funding, potentially leading to the department’s closure and job losses. In contrast, the public safety and policing departments will see an increase in their $14 million budgets.
Two weeks ago, student protesters on campus set up an encampment in solidarity with Palestine and against Israel’s ongoing attack in Gaza. After refusing to leave campus, authorities detained thirty-six people, cited and released 27 for trespassing, and arrested and charged six more with trespassing.
The Daily Tarheel reported that North Carolina State University police, UNC Wilmington police, Appalachian State University police, state patrol officers, and sheriff deputies (dressed in riot gear) assisted the UNC campus police, despite the absence of local Chapel Hill police.
Some Chapel Hill council members, students, and staff were worried by the campus police’s response to student protests, condemning what they called “an escalation of force,” including “the use of pepper spray against its own students.”
Board members, however, defended the campus police. Days before Monday’s vote, Kotis wrote an aggressive op-ed in the North State Journal, criticizing the students’ protests and the lack of response from local police.
“The General Assembly needs to respond strongly to Cooper’s and Chapel Hill’s unwillingness to enforce law and order,” he stated. “It should consider moving funds from any municipalities unwilling to support fellow law enforcement and give the UNC system the additional resources to handle emergencies like the one at UNC Chapel Hill last week.”
The aim of the office of diversity and inclusion, according to the school’s website, is to “create and sustain a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all students, faculty, and alumni.”.
However, Marty Kotis, vice chair of the board’s budget and finance committee, stated that the DEI programs were incompatible with the campus environment. “I believe that many perceive DEI as a source of divisiveness, exclusion, and indoctrination,” Kotis expressed during the vote-taking meeting. “We need more unity and togetherness, more dialogue, and more diversity of thought.”
In a March interview with the assembly, board member Woody White wrote: “Though marketed as a’student success’ support system, the fact is that on some campuses, the DEI regime has become an enforcement mechanism for radical ideology. It has weaponized discrimination, pitting races and genders against one another, under the guise of ‘righting past wrongs’.
UNC Chapel Hill’s commencement occurred the day before Monday’s DEI statement. Football stadium screens displayed the following message during the event: “We will remove and arrest anyone who does not leave or put down signs when asked.” Thank you for cooperating.”
