UNC-Chapel Hill to Divert Millions in DEI Funding Into Law Enforcement

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) Board of Trustees voted to divert millions from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs into campus public safety, namely law enforcement.

The board met during a special budget meeting May 13 and unanimously passed a flex cut amendment, moving $2.3 million from DEI programs into public safety, effectively cutting DEI funding from next year’s budget.

I think that DEI in a lot of people’s minds is divisiveness, exclusion, and indoctrination, said Marty Kotis, vice chair of the board’s budget and finance committee, in the meeting. We need more unity and togetherness, more dialogue, more diversity of thought.

The move to divert funds comes after pro-Palestinian protests on campus that resulted in police detaining over 30 people at an encampment and replacing the U.S. flag 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 said in the meeting. I think it’s imperative that we have proper resources for our law enforcement to protect the campus.

No Chapel Hill or Carrboro police were involved in the arrests, according to WUNC. Both towns’ council members have spoken against the university’s response to the protests.

David Boliek, chair of the budget and finance committee, disapproved of the towns’ response, citing the lack of town police support as a reason to increase the budget.

The UNC Board of Governors is also soon expected to vote to remove a policy mandating DEI offices at all system schools, according to WUNC. If enacted, it would go into effect immediately, and all UNC System chancellors would have until September to make plans for DEI cuts.