(ProsperNews.net) – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s board of trustees has voted to reduce its funding for diversity and inclusion programs and use the funds to boost the campus police budget.
The college’s board of trustees voted on the budget reduction after protests unfolded across the campus, ultimately resulting in a unanimous decision favoring an increase to the campus police department’s funding. The decision to cut the budget of DEI programs means the college will have an additional $2.3 million in funding, most of which is going to the university’s police budget.
The budget cut for the campus’ DEI program will likely result in the program’s termination, as the campus can’t afford to pay for the staff and social programs associated with the office. While the board of trustees hasn’t addressed why they voted to remove funding from the DEI program, people close to the school’s administration blame the recent anti-Israel protests that erupted across the university’s campus. The political demonstrations eventually caused several student arrests, prompting school officials to determine if the DEI program should remain on campus.
According to Marty Kotis, the vice chairman of the university’s budget committee, the DEI program caused a wider divide among students and contributed to the hostilities that unfolded during the political protests. Kotis also claims that he believes DEI programs are often close to “indoctrinating” students, and as a result, they shouldn’t be a focus for the university. When talking about the budgetary reduction, Kotis also highlighted how the campus’ DEI office only focused on around 100 students. Kotis claims that the university should focus on the 30,000 students in attendance rather than just 100 students involved in a diversity program.
David Boliek, the board chairman for the university’s budget committee, cited a different concern for the budget reduction. Boliek claims that he believes the university suffers from “administrative bloat” and that the campus can run far more efficiently by reallocating the DEI program’s budget. Kotis made similar statements and highlighted how the campus protests resulted in property destruction and required additional construction. According to Kotis, having the school’s administration pay for property damage and added fences for security costs a lot of money, which campus administrators could use if it’s pulled from other non-essential programs like the DEI office.
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