RALEIGH (April 25, 2024) – As we approach a vote by the UNC Board of Governors next month to repeal a 2019 policy that requires UNC campuses to hire diversity officers and work toward diversity,1 a few observations and a few questions:
- 10 members of the Board of Governors voted in September 2019 to adopt the current policy.
Ten current members of the UNC Board of Governors voted in September 2019, with Republican Bill Roper as Interim President of the UNC System, to adopt the current policy on diversity, equity and inclusion. (Randy Ramsey, Wendy Murphy, Kellie Hunt Blue, Pearl Burris-Floyd, Philip Byers, Carolyn Coward, Terry Hutchens, Alex Mitchell, Temple Sloan III, and Michael Williford. Mark Holton was newly appointed but missed the meeting.)2
What has changed since September 2019?
We have yet to hear a rationale from Board of Governors members who voted (also on a consent agenda) for the existing policy.
Departing from usual practice, UNC President Peter Hans and BOG Chair Randy Ramsey declined to take questions from the media last week after the BOG’s Governance Committee voted without discussion to repeal the current policy in a meeting in Winston-Salem.3
But they did issue statements professing the university’s dedication to diversity.4
Do they really – really – think that will happen on its own?
Do they yearn to return to the 19th century, or the 1950s pre-Brown v. Board of Education? Or is the only thing that’s changed that DEI became a hot-button political issue and they are following marching orders to serve up an issue for this fall’s elections?
- Did they break their own rules?
The proposed new policy showed up on the agenda the afternoon before a meeting of the BOG’s Governance Committee, and the committee “discussed” the item less than five minutes while students were denied access to the building.5
In January, BOG Chair Ramsey and UNC President Peter Hans issued a stern memo to UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees Chair John Preyer admonishing campus trustees to give proper public notice of agenda items:6
“The Board of Governors and the System Office will only consider action by the UNC Chapel Hill board of trustees if it was noticed, and distributed through the UNC Chapel Hill board of trustees’ agenda, at least seven days prior (to) the regular meeting where the item was considered, or at least four days prior to the special meeting where the item was considered.”7
Sure, the admonishment applied to actions by the full board. But the spirit of the policy is clear.
Give the public a heads-up.
- Will it happen on its own?
Hans and Ramsey both issued statements after the board meeting last week that said the UNC System remains committed to diversity.8
But after decades – indeed, centuries – of white privilege on UNC campuses, do they really think it will happen on its own?
How will the UNC System maintain diversity on its campuses without structures to make it happen?
1 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article287765275.html.
2 https://www.northcarolina.edu/apps//bog/doc.php?id=62980&code=bog.
3 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article287796240.html
4 https://www.wunc.org/education/2024-04-18/unc-board-governors-eliminate-dei-hans.
5 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article287796240.html.
6 https://publicedworks.org/2024/04/a-well-earned-smackdown/.
7 https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24533017/unc-chapel-hill-administrative-memorandum_january-12-2024-1.pdf.
8 https://www.wunc.org/education/2024-04-18/unc-board-governors-eliminate-dei-hans.
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