Oregon State University Reportedly Spent $100K on Four Diversity Workshops

Oregon State University Reportedly Spent $100K on Four Diversity Workshops

How many students could have attended Oregon State for ‘free’ for this kind of money?

Campus Reform reports:

EXCLUSIVE: OSU spent $100k on 4 diversity workshops

Documents obtained by Campus Reform show that Oregon State University spent $100,000 on four diversity, equity, and inclusion workshops in 2015.

OSU hired Kardia Group LLC to facilitate the workshops over the course of one year as part of the school’s five-year “strategic plan” to advance DEI efforts. The five year initiative concluded in 2020.

Kardia visited OSU to establish a “deeper level knowledge of the status quo of diversity and inclusion efforts,” proposing a series of seminars to “focus diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts on mission-specific activities associated with excellence in engineering.”

The outside organization billed itself as a “leading strategic partner in the transformation of the culture, functionality, and success of the academic endeavor.” It also limited the entire workshop series to 8-12 faculty and 8-12 staff members.

Workshops 1-3 cost $28,000 each and workshop 4 cost $16,000, for a total of $100,000. The contract between OSU and Kardia also covered travel expenses which were “not to exceed $12,000.”

As part of the five-year DEI effort, Phase I of the College of Engineering’s Strategic Plan intended the school to become a “recognized model as an inclusive and collaborative community” and to be “increasingly more inclusive, collaborative, diverse, and centered on student success.”

Kardia developed Phase II with the university.

OSU’s College of Engineering also has a Center for Diversity and Inclusion that develops programs and “empowers students who have traditionally been denied equal opportunities in the field of engineering,” which include “LGBTQ+, Womxn, and undocumented or DACAmented students.”

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