In January 2023, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill launched its “DEI Strategic Plan” for the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS). This plan is an extension of Chief Diversity Officer Leah Cox’s “Build Our Community Together” initiative, which is part of the broader 2020 “Carolina Next” program. The DEI Strategic Plan aims to align admissions, hiring, and retention policies with the university’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals. These objectives include prioritizing DEI in teaching, research, service, and the hiring, evaluation, retention, and promotion of underrepresented faculty and staff, as well as exploring innovative approaches to admissions focused on DEI.
Development and Implementation of the DEI Strategic Plan
In 2021, following the unveiling of the “Carolina Next” program, the university established a “DEI Strategic Plan Committee” to develop DEI policies for the CAS. Senior Associate Dean Karla Slocum, appointed by CAS Dean James White, led the committee to underscore that DEI is a fundamental principle of the college. After 15 months of work, the committee produced its “Action Steps for Equity.”
In December 2022, Dean White and Slocum communicated to their CAS colleagues the imminent implementation of the DEI plan. They emphasized that the DEI overhaul would require involvement from the Dean’s Office, academic departments, non-instructional units, and individuals, implicitly suggesting that all employees are expected to support the DEI initiatives.
Key Components of the DEI Strategic Plan
According to UNC’s website, the new plan focuses on four primary DEI agenda items: enhancing climate, understanding pay equity, improving diversity through recruitment and retention, and addressing areas of historical injustice. These initiatives began in the spring of 2023, with additional measures scheduled to start in the fall.
The university describes its DEI policies using jargonistic and ostensibly benign language, portraying the initiatives as preparations for students to participate in a “more diversified economy.” However, the terms “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” in this context are often euphemistic. Here’s how they have been interpreted in practice:
- Diversity: Instead of merely fostering collaboration among people with different life experiences and viewpoints, it often means manipulating admissions and hiring practices to favor certain racial, gender, or other identity groups deemed “victimized.”
- Equity: While traditionally referring to equal justice under the law, it now involves standardizing economic and educational outcomes, which contradicts the principles of classical liberal education.
- Inclusion: Once about creating a welcoming space for everyone, it now includes suppressing speech and ideas that conflict with intersectional political thought, purportedly to protect minority groups.
Analysis of Specific DEI Action Items
Recruitment and Retention
One of the plan’s action items is to “create annual cluster hires, expand existing cluster hires, and adopt hiring strategies to augment diversity among faculty.” Cluster hiring, ostensibly intended to foster interdisciplinary research, is often used to increase diversity metrics by hiring from academic disciplines with a higher likelihood of diverse candidates. This practice can lead to overt racial or gender discrimination in hiring to meet DEI goals.
When contacted for clarification, the UNC Media Relations office stated that cluster hiring helps build community and integrate new faculty into the university. However, this explanation does not address concerns about potential discriminatory practices to achieve diversity targets.
Admissions Policies
The strategic plan’s aim to introduce “innovative approaches to admissions” raises concerns, especially as UNC is under Supreme Court scrutiny for its use of racial preferences. These approaches may be designed to circumvent potential restrictions on racial discrimination in admissions, shifting selection criteria away from merit and achievement toward favoring specific identity groups.
Pay Equity
The plan includes an investigation into “pay equity,” which would be commendable if it aimed at ensuring fair compensation based on labor and benefit to the school. However, pay equity programs might involve wage discrimination. For example, Appalachian State University allegedly paid “diverse” employees more than their “non-diverse” colleagues using a “diversity rate of pay per hour” scheme, potentially violating federal law.
Mandatory DEI Training
The initiative also calls for mandatory DEI training for all faculty and staff. While providing access to DEI education is acceptable, mandating participation is problematic. Forcing faculty and staff to engage in politically charged training contradicts the university’s commitment to institutional neutrality. The Kalven Report, adopted as policy by the UNC Board of Trustees, emphasizes that the university should not take collective action on contentious issues, as it inhibits the freedom of dissent essential for its existence.
Potential Implications for Academic Freedom and Campus Climate
The DEI Strategic Plan could have significant adverse effects on academic freedom and campus climate. By enforcing ideological conformity through mandatory DEI training, the plan may lead to self-censorship among dissenting faculty and staff, who might fear reprisal from administrators or students. This environment could stifle free expression and undermine the university’s role as a hub of diverse ideas and rigorous debate.
Moreover, the plan’s implementation is likely to exacerbate UNC-Chapel Hill’s already substantial DEI-related expenditures. The university spends over $3 million annually on DEI administrators. The new plan calls for standardizing and mandating compensation for DEI leadership and increasing grants for departmental DEI projects. Such administrative bloat detracts from the university’s core mission of education and research, especially in light of budget cuts to library funding and deferred maintenance on campus buildings.
Conclusion and Recommendations
To ensure that DEI initiatives do not undermine academic freedom or violate anti-discrimination laws, UNC-Chapel Hill administrators must be transparent about their policies and use clear, detailed language. They should also carefully consider the potential consequences of their actions on institutional neutrality and free expression. Administrators need to strike a balance between promoting diversity and maintaining a culture of open inquiry and free thought.
In summary, while the DEI Strategic Plan at UNC-Chapel Hill aims to address important issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, its implementation must be handled with caution to avoid unintended negative consequences for the university community.
