Many of the same people who advocate for “free” college have no problem with schools spending millions on diversity administrators.
The College Fix reports:
Virginia public universities spent over $15 million on DEI administrators in 2020: reportDiversity, equity and inclusion administrators at Virginia’s public colleges and universities cost an estimated $15 million in 2020 alone, according to a new report by the Virginia Association of Scholars.The $15 million figure is “the most conservative, minimal estimate possible,” William Knorpp, a study author and VAS president, told The College Fix in an email. Moreover, the “spending is skyrocketing,” said Knorpp, associate professor of philosophy at James Madison University.The report, released in January by VAS, an offshoot of the center-right National Association of Scholars think tank, identified DEI as “a set of slogans associated with ‘critical race theory’ (CRT), ‘critical social justice’ (CSJ), and other leftist ideologies.”“One thread running through CRT and CSJ is that oppression and discrimination are pervasive, and that this oppression explains all measured differences in group outcomes,” the report stated.Of the 15 colleges and universities surveyed, only two lacked a DEI administrator in 2020 — Virginia State University and the Virginia Military Institute — and the Virginia Military Institute “hired its first Chief Diversity Officer in May 2021,” according to the report.The remaining colleges and universities spent an average of over $1.15 million on DEI administrators, although individual spending varied considerably across the remaining 13 institutions.Christopher Newport University spent $110,376 on its one DEI administrator, while the University of Virginia spent more than $4 million on its 38 DEI administrators, the report stated.Even more, “many DEI offices, centers, and councils are staffed in part or whole by full-time faculty as opposed to administrators,” the report stated.The report noted faculty taking on DEI responsibilities can apply for a reduction in the number of classes they teach: “These classes either still take place, which requires the hiring of additional faculty, adjuncts, or graduate students to cover the class[es], or they are forgone entirely, at a loss to students.”“DEI ‘training’ takes resources away from university staff,” according to the report. Staff members must take “time to prepare, time to attend, and time to train, and funds are needed to pay external trainers.”
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