The University of Florida boldly moved to the forefront of academia last week by closing its DEI office. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are an America locked in a perpetual struggle of the oppressor against the oppressor, with African Americans taking center stage as the eternally oppressed, and LGBTQ+ representation as the leading supporting cast. It is an ideology that depicts
Perhaps what the University of Florida just did could be called DEI-vestment. It definitely has a financial component. The university announced that it will reallocate about $5 million a year, which had previously been earmarked for racial issues, to DEI personnel and programs.
Even if the University of Florida’s administrative structure is gone, a significant number of supporters and former employees will remain.
While the University of Florida should be commended for its efforts, it did not come up with this reform entirely on its own. In January, the Florida Board of Education voted to eliminate DEI programs at 28 state universities. And in November, the Governor’s Commission on the State University System requested similar revocations for Florida’s 12 public universities. These bureaucracies acted at the behest of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is explicitly opposed to DEI ideology.
Most of these institutions are either slow in complying or are looking for ways to avoid legal liability to amend their policies. The University of Florida, whose president is former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, was one of the first to come forward. As a result, 13 positions were eliminated, including chief diversity officer. The office alone had a budget of more than $400,000 for the 2022-23 school year.
My free advice to Mr. Sasse is to dig deeper. Eliminating these 13 positions is a good start, as is ending 15 other DEI-based “management appointments.” The second category of translations are faculty who receive additional compensation for their DEI work, and many DEI directors are members of valued identity groups that DEI directors wanted to be more visible on campus. Some people suspect that it consists of conforming to the
But DEI on most campuses is like the green anaconda and other invasive snakes that find home and breed in Florida’s inland waters, limiting the population of native species. DEI Anacondas, like their reptile relatives, hide in hollows and cannot be easily removed. Even if the University of Florida’s administrative structure is gone, a significant number of supporters and former employees will remain. Will they be content with following the rules of civil rights law and the legitimate educational mission of universities? Mr. Sasse should keep his eyes open.
This story is important because many states are passing laws or taking other steps to eradicate DEI programs from public universities. Bills were introduced in 33 states and passed in 13 of them. The University of Florida is now a test case for whether such laws can have a meaningful effect in thwarting these neo-racist, ideologically-driven programs.
Proponents of such reforms face many of the higher education institutions as well as the careerists who staff their programs. The very existence of the National Higher Education Diversity Officers Association is a testament to how entrenched DEI is, and unsurprisingly, the association is convening its allies to that end.
Defenders of DEI argue that defunding DEI would trample on “free speech.” This is especially noteworthy because one of DEI offices’ primary activities is to suppress the free speech of others.
