EDITORS' CORNER
Despite a variety of efforts by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Board of Trustees to root out diversity, equity and inclusion within the state’s flagship public institution, there’s still plenty of it, according to a new report.
“[D]espite reform-oriented policies at the board level, UNC’s former DEI czar oversees the admissions office; a campus gender activist runs the chancellor’s office; and an outspoken critic of meritocracy oversees faculty affairs, under the supervision of a provost whose prior institution advertised explicit racial quotas until a civil rights organization called it out,” reported John Sailer, director of higher education policy and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Sailer’s June 17 piece in City Journal details a series of choices over the last couple years that illustrate that the anti-DEI measures coming from the very top has not played out within administrative circles.
“Last year, the UNC System general counsel told all campuses to end any diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) course requirements, citing a Trump administration executive order. Chapel Hill took credit for making this change—without actually changing anything. It simply sped up the rollout of its previously planned IDEAS in Action core curriculum, which only nominally complies with the directive,” Sailer reported.
“Chapel Hill’s new core curriculum included ‘Difference, Power, and Inequality’ as a ‘focus capacity,’ meaning every student would be required to take one course under the theme. Such courses include ‘Queering China,’ ‘Global Whiteness,’ and ‘Feminist Geographies.’ When the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal highlighted this sleight of hand, the university simply renamed the focus capacity to ‘Power and Society,’ while maintaining its long list of identity-centered courses.”
Other questionable choices include hiring top-level officials who have a history of prioritizing DEI and progressive policies. Currently the university’s senior vice provost for faculty affairs, who oversees hiring, has argued that racism is “the fabric of our country.” Another recently hired dean has long praised so-called anti-racism efforts.
“In April, James Orr, the recently hired senior vice provost for undergraduate success, said that he planned to ‘investigate’ a student group for making a satirical video that some students deemed racist. Orr backed down only after the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression intervened,” Sailer reported.
Whether there’s a solution is unclear, he added: “In 2024, Peter Hans, president of the UNC System, revoked the board’s power to veto senior administrative appointments.”
“[The university serves as a case study in stalled reform as it continues to suffer from many of the maladies afflicting higher education––from questionable course requirements to senior leadership committed to the ‘social-justice university.'”
MORE: UNC to host campus conversation for students to express ‘harm’ they felt from comedic satire
