The University of North Carolina System allocates at least $90 million yearly to salaries for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) personnel, as highlighted in a recent report from Open the Books.
This report, published by federal spending watchdog Open the Books, provides a detailed account of the UNC System’s expenditure on DEI salaries, revealing that across 16 campuses, the university system employs 686 staff members dedicated to promoting this ideology. The UNC Board of Governors is anticipated to convene in Raleigh this week to vote on a measure that could abolish DEI requirements across all university system campuses.
“When world events put a stress test on the far-Left DEI worldview, it quickly begins coming apart at the seams,” remarked Open the Books founder and CEO Adam Andrzejewski in a statement. “Wedging everything into an oppressor-oppressed model, and injecting race essentialism into everyday affairs has proven to foment anger and division. Pitting different identity groups against one another is precisely the opposite of inclusion.”
Recently, the UNC at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees decided to redirect $2.3 million in DEI funding towards public safety and policing initiatives. The report from Open the Books indicated that the Chapel Hill campus alone allocates nearly $30 million to DEI salaries, while North Carolina State University spends approximately $16.4 million.
The funds spent by Chapel Hill on DEI could cover the in-state tuition for about 1,100 students, based on the university’s $27,036 tuition fees. The publicly funded UNC System receives roughly $1 billion annually from taxpayers.
The report reveals that out of the 686 staff members, 288 are dedicated DEI personnel, while 398 have DEI-related roles, such as participating on committees, councils, or other bodies promoting DEI. Additionally, 80 students, mostly volunteers, assist in ingraining DEI philosophy.
“For the first time, these exhaustive reviews can offer a look at just how deeply ingrained the DEI philosophy has become,” Andrzejewski informed Truth Voices. “With each passing day this worldview, which defines everyone by identity traits, is proving how divisive it really is in practice. A look at the full scale of DEI spending reveals what a task it will be to reverse the damage we’re seeing play out on campuses. Thankfully, UNC appears to be taking steady steps back toward providing a first-class educational experience that prepares students to contribute to the American economy. Taxpayers deserve nothing less from a publicly funded institution.”
Salaries for DEI officials in the UNC System are typically substantial, with Chapel Hill’s chief diversity officer, Leah Cox, earning $317,538 annually, and Sheri Schwab, the NC State vice provost for institutional equity and diversity, receiving $232,964, according to Open the Books.
Beyond the cost analysis of salaries, the full extent of DEI’s integration into a university is profound, as it fundamentally aims to impact every operational function.
“There is hope that North Carolina will follow the Florida model and begin to reverse the damage, but there is a lot of work ahead of them,” Andrzejewski stated. “The breadth and scale of the DEI effort at UNC illustrates how ingrained the radical doctrine has become in academia.”
UNC did not respond to a request for comment from Truth Voices.
