Bacon's Rebellion

by James A. Bacon

How many Diversity, Equity & Inclusion employees work at the University of Virginia, and how much do they cost? Those are important questions, but they miss the big picture. Employees classified as “DEI” are only part of a large bureaucratic apparatus designed to transform the University in line with a social-justice vision that views the world through the prism of intersectional oppression. A critical piece of the DEI machinery is the office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights (EOCR).

From a fiscal perspective, whether UVA spends $7.5 million yearly on the university’s office of DEI, as Chief Operating Officer J.J. Davis averred at the recent Board of Visitors meeting, or $20 million university-wide, as argued by fiscal watchdog Open the Books, the sum represents a tiny fraction of the enterprise’s $5.8 billion budget. But the budget numbers don’t come close to describing the far-reaching impact of DEI on the campus culture.

For instance, UVA maintains an office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights (EOCR), which under federal law promotes “diversity and inclusion, provides equal opportunity and access, and eliminates unlawful discrimination.” By investigating complaints of discrimination and harassment, EOCR functions as the enforcement arm of the DEI bureaucracy.

UVA has sent mixed messages about whether the office should be included in the count of DEI employees. EOCR is federally mandated, and it has existed for years, so it really shouldn’t count, UVA has said in its critique of the Open the Books methodology. But then, as Davis noted at the Board meeting, the EOCR office is part of the University’s DEI division and reports to the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Partnerships.

When asked to compare UVA’s DEI spending in the 2024-25 budget compared to the current year, Davis said the “only material enhancements” to DEI occurred in the EOCR office in response to a surge in its case load. (more…)