Unhappy with the University System of Georgia’s response to budget cuts, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones wanted to know how much state colleges spend on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Last week, Chancellor Sonny Perdue sent a nearly 200-page answer.
The total amount is difficult to calculate. The report doesn’t add up the costs from all 26 colleges in one tidy sum. Instead, it lists millions of dollars worth of salaries for diversity staffers and describes the scope of their work.
It also includes millions in need-based aid for students and programs Perdue said fulfill federal requirements. The broad array of costs highlighted in the report represent more “than what some may view as controversial about DEI,” Perdue wrote.
“Higher education is a place where people — young people particularly — come to realize that not everybody brings their same life perspective,” Perdue wrote to Jones. “We cannot learn from one another if we don’t listen to one another.”
“We want people to feel free to express their First Amendment rights on our campuses without being shouted down or called out,” Perdue said.
Jones’ staff on Monday was still going through the report and likely will be for a while.
“I am committed to ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent wisely to support a higher education system that equips our students with critical skills needed for future success — not on advancing divisive concepts and political agendas,” Jones said.
“I know Chancellor Perdue shares in that commitment, and I commend him and our entire University System for their thorough review of existing policies,” he said. “Working together, we can continue to advance higher education in our state, protect taxpayer funds, and give everyone an equal opportunity to achieve their dreams right here in Georgia — and I look forward to doing just that.”
In late April, after Perdue expressed disappointment with a $66 million state funding cut to Georgia’s public universities, Jones questioned how much of the University System’s budget goes to DEI programs. The University System will receive about $3.1 billion from the state for the fiscal year that began Saturday.
DEI programs focus on various efforts, such as hiring more minority professors and providing resources to students of different racial backgrounds, gender identities, sexual orientations and socioeconomic status.
The University System’s response also included work to support rural and migrant students, veterans and women in science fields, those who are the first in their family to go to college and students with disabilities.
In his April query, Jones cited an incident earlier this year at Stanford Law School where he said “a DEI administrator participated in the ‘shouting down’ ” of a conservative speaker.
Jones wrote: “These (DEI) programs are particularly concerning when taxpayer funds are used to enforce the type of intellectual and political conformity that appears to be the hallmark of many campus DEI initiatives.”
This spring, the Georgia Board of Regents affirmed its commitment to academic freedom and free expression. That statement of principles makes clear that the University System values diversity of intellectual thought, Perdue wrote in his response.
He also told Jones that its universities are reviewing recruitment practices to make sure no applicants or new hires are asked or required to sign DEI statements.
Conservative lawmakers have targeted diversity initiatives in K-12 schools and colleges in recent years, contending they’re divisive.
The Georgia Professional Standards Commission is in the midst of a major rewrite of the state’s educator preparation rules, which guide colleges that train future teachers. This spring, the governor-appointed commissioners began methodically stripping rulebook references to “diversity,” “equity” and other terms the agency has said are ambiguous.
Campus changes pushed by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for president, include blocking public colleges from spending state or federal money on DEI programs. And Texas passed a law to shut down DEI offices at its public colleges.
The report given to Jones by Georgia colleges shows many schools have chief diversity officers, multiple staffers and several programs.
At Georgia Southern University, for instance, the $189,000-a-year associate vice president for inclusive excellence “has primary responsibility for leading inclusion efforts through the development and implementation of policies, procedures and mission aligned curriculum activities guided by principles of diversity, inclusion, transparency and shared governance.” The associate vice president is part of the university president’s executive cabinet, the report said.
Georgia Tech reported an $8 million-a-year expenditure of state funds for the programs, with 66 full-time staffers and six federally mandated positions and seven part-time staffers. The effort is led by a vice president of institute diversity, equity and inclusion who the report says earns $281,000 a year.
