WRAL News is getting a closer look at how the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees came up with a dollar amount to eliminate funding for diversity, equity and inclusion.

The board voted unanimously in a special meeting to pull $2.3 million from DEI and give that money to campus police.

Other WRAL Top Stories

The nation’s first public university is backtracking on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Reggie Shuford is Executive Director of the NC Justice Center and a double alum of UNC-Chapel Hill.

"I was gravely disappointed, frustrated, upset, concerned that the decision sends the wrong message that not all students are welcome at UNC," Shuford said.

"It’s not the UNC I am used to. It was open. It was welcoming. It invited critical debate."

There wasn't much debate by the Board of Trustees Monday in deciding to strip funding from DEI initiatives on the campus. The politically-appointed Trustees sitting around the table and joining the meeting virtually are mostly white, and majority of them are men.

The board's finance committee chair said DEI on campus has morphed into "cultural indoctrination."

"DEI has been an effort to say, you must think a certain way or otherwise you're somehow inherently evil or somehow not inherently smart," Dave Boliek said.

Creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community at UNC-Chapel Hill was the number one priority in this Carolina Next strategic plan approved in 2020.

Now, the Board is pulling $2.3 million from that to prioritize public safety and police on campus after the killing of a professor last fall and the recent pro-Palestine protests.

This 15-page 2023 annual report to the UNC System on Diversity & Inclusion at Chapel Hill gives us an idea of where that number comes from.

On page 12, $2.3 million covers the costs of D&I operations and activities.

The majority of that pays for 25 positions in the Office for Diversity & Inclusion in:

  • LGBTQ Center
    • Kenan-Flagler Business School
      • The College of Arts & Sciences
        • Gillings School of Global Public Health
          • Eshelman School of Pharmacy
            • The Schools of Law, Nursing and Medicine

              They manage programs including advising low-income high school students on how to get into college, recruiting diverse faculty, staff and students. Additionally, there's providing career mentorship for minority students.

              This seems punitive to me," Shuford said. "It seems short sighted, and I’m concerned the decision will scare people away – not just from UNC, but families who are thinking about moving to North Carolina."

              The University told WRAL it's too early to know the impact on specific jobs and employees.

              Next week, the UNC System Board of Governors is expected to vote on eliminating diversity goals and jobs across the system's universities.