WILMINGTON — UNCW, one of the least racially diverse institutions in the UNC System, may soon be forced to abandon its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and its students are pushing back on the move.
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On Monday, Port City Daily talked with students with UNCW’s Black Student Union as they prepared to protest UNC System Board of Governors’ committee vote to repeal and replace the system’s DEI policy.
The proposed replacement language emphasizes the system’s commitment to “institutional neutrality” and “equality of all persons and viewpoints.”
“It just feels like things are going backwards,” junior Kaelyn Elien said on Monday.
UNC Board of Governors member Woody White — also a former UNCW trustee and New Hanover County commissioner — was not part of the committee’s unanimous decision, which garnered no discussion at the time of the vote on April 17. That same day, White published an op-ed in the Carolina Journal where he claimed the enactment of DEI has “severely damaged race relations.”
White did not return PCD’s request for comment.
A final decision on the policy change will be made when the entire board convenes on May 23.
“I think they need to define their clear motive before they vote,” Elien said.
If favorable to the board of governors, at least all 17 mandated DEI officers at each school, along with any other DEI positions, would be eliminated.
By Sept. 1, universities would be required to submit a report demonstrating their reduction in employees and spending, changes to job titles and descriptions, and the monetary savings achieved from these actions in relation to the policy repeal.
“It’s only just stripping away titles and information,” junior Jordan Mcleod said before Monday’s protest. “It really is lessening the cultural initiatives, the diversity initiatives.”
UNCW currently lists 15 positions in its Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion. It is unclear what reductions or reassignments will look like, as the university declined to comment on what its plans are if the policy vote is successful. UNCW also did not make Chief Diversity Officer Donyell Roseboro available for an interview.
“Typically, the university doesn’t comment on pending policy considerations by the Board of Governors,” UNCW spokesperson Andrea Weaver wrote in a statement.
After publication, UNCW did share that it has spent $1.3 million on DEI initiatives.
Several of the OIDI positions oversee the university’s cultural centers, some of which have predated the UNC System DEI policy adopted in 2019. The protestors gathered in the Upperman African American Cultural Center, established in 1995, and spoke of its impact on their college life.
Mcleod, also a member of the Black Student Union, said he thought the move to repeal DEI invalidates the presence of cultural centers or cultural movements, further eroding a sense of community people of color feel on campus. Mcleod said he’s seen many of his friends transfer.
“They don’t want to be in an environment that’s actively hostile against minorities,” Mcleoad said.
The Upperman Center has also helped Mcleod in a more direct way through the center’s scholarship program. It helped him afford to pursue the pre-med path otherwise off limits to him.
Despite enhanced recruitment efforts with the establishment of OIDI, the percentage of Black students at UNCW has remained at 6% since 2020, though until fall 2023, the number of students was growing with the university’s increasing enrollment. Comparatively, around 22% of North Carolina’s population is Black, with 38% enrolled in post secondary education, according to 2022 stats from nonprofit My Future N.C.
The protesters acknowledged the university’s diversity inadequacies extend beyond Black students. Hispanic or Latino students rose from 7% to 8% in 2022 (the state breakdown is 10.5%) and its gender disparity is 65% female, 35% male when females make up 51% of the state population (online data only calculate the two sexes).
“DEI does not just affect Black students, it does not just affect Latinos; it affects our women, our LGBTQ+ community as well, it affects everybody in ways we don’t know,” Dre Gibson said Monday.
Gibson is a student at Cape Fear Community College, but joined the UNCW protesters in solidarity. He welcomed them to return the favor at a protest planned by fellow CFCC students on May 7 in downtown Wilmington. Gibson dubbed the event a “peace walk.”
Though not part of the UNC System, the state has oversight over community colleges and the General Assembly, currently assembled with a Republican supermajority, appoints the trustees to each school. The GOP has been critical of DEI initiatives in the past.
House Speaker Tim Moore ( R-Cleveland) said last week that lawmakers would allow universities to handle the DEI issue themselves first.
State Republicans already passed a law to “prohibit compelled speech when an individual seeks state government or community college employment. Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action in college admissions last July. The university did not readily issue a statement, despite calls from several faculty and staff members, as well as students.
The UNCW protesters said they hoped UNCW leadership would provide more information on its plan to mitigate the fallout if the DEI policy is changed, along with what it will continue to do to foster a diverse campus.
And so, the students marched down UNCW’s Chancellors Walk.
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