The Cost of DEI? That’s the Easy Part.
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37 responses to “The Cost of DEI? That’s the Easy Part.”
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Thanks for the reasonable discussion! Is the recommendation to do a 5% cut on the 10% they receive from the state?
Is UVA more free to decide how to deal with the budget that the state does not fund?
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For instance, if they want to use their endowment and tuition to pay for DEI… or similar?
I thought when Helen Dragas did her thing, she actually had a more holistic view and sought a different path for UVA in the future as opposed to thinking it was too "woke" and needed to fix that. I thought she was fixed on things like MOOC | Massive Open Online Courses.
"UVA first announced it would become one of dozens of top-tier colleges and universities to partner with Coursera last summer, not long after the firing and eventual reinstatement of University President Teresa Sullivan. The attempted ouster thrust the issue of online learning into the spotlight after Rector Helen Dragas named the University’s lack of an organized approach to new learning technologies as one of the reasons she and the Board of Visitors were forcing a leadership change."
Does the anticipated new BOV have anything in mind other than dismantle and "de-woke"?
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The General Assembly, and Governor, for that, sometimes provide funding for specific programs or activities within a highed ed, but they also provide a chunk of operating money for general purposes, such as the money that was included in the 2022 budget bill: "Out of this appropriation, $2,500,000 each year from the general fund is designated to support affordable access for in-state undergraduate students." That could be used for almost anything. To be effective, an across-the-board cut such as I proposed would need to be structed so a department would have less funding after counting the additional state funding it received. It would need to get fewer overall dollars than it had the previous year. If all department were thus affected, there would be few tuition dollars needed.
As I have said in the past, high ed finance is devilishly complex. To make it more complicated, state GF money and tuition revenue are combined into the same revenue code, so that it is impossible to tell whether someone was paid, or an activity was paid for, with tuition money or state appropriation. It is alL "Higher Ed Operating Fund".
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Youngkin and company did not shine good on their involvement in “improving” the cost-effectiveness the ABC operations. They totally did not understand the industry, apparently. Blood from stone type stuff.
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Thanks for the reasonable discussion! Is the recommendation to do a 5% cut on the 10% they receive from the state?
Is UVA more free to decide how to deal with the budget that the state does not fund?
😉
For instance, if they want to use their endowment and tuition to pay for DEI… or similar?
I thought when Helen Dragas did her thing, she actually had a more holistic view and sought a different path for UVA in the future as opposed to thinking it was too "woke" and needed to fix that. I thought she was fixed on things like MOOC | Massive Open Online Courses.
"UVA first announced it would become one of dozens of top-tier colleges and universities to partner with Coursera last summer, not long after the firing and eventual reinstatement of University President Teresa Sullivan. The attempted ouster thrust the issue of online learning into the spotlight after Rector Helen Dragas named the University’s lack of an organized approach to new learning technologies as one of the reasons she and the Board of Visitors were forcing a leadership change."
Does the anticipated new BOV have anything in mind other than dismantle and "de-woke"?
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Well…a dozen "rounding errors" of $20 million and you have 10% of the budget….
Why the focus on DEI? Besides it is Marxist and destructive and cultural poison? And has ZERO to do with education? Look at UVA's course catalog. I'm guessing 1/3rd are worthless junk. How many majors? What college was featured recently trying to get ahead of the coming cataclysm? Lynchburg? Roanoke? How much is spent on the virtue signaling "community partnerships?" You know, the ones that meet for years and UVA claims EVERYTHING is a working paper of Jim Ryan?
The ultimate cost of DEI will far exceed $20 million when an honest accounting is done. Many, many full time employee time is devoted, besides the negative effects of what it "produces."
I'm all for an honest accounting. Why doesn't UVA "open the books?"
How much money does UVA spend to break the law in admissions? How about in allocation of scholarships? Does adherence to DEI influence tenure decisions? Support for research grants? If DEI is the faculty "religion," how much are we paying for their religion? (It is a religion to the faculty – you can hear it in the Faculty Senate debate over whether to let Bert speak…which they decided against…cuz unequivocal support for free speech (when we agree with it))-
DEI is a fundamental concept in K12, right?
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This comment sounds like an agenda for the July shadow board meeting…
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roadmap?
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I am sure that the BOV is composed of busy and important people who have a lot on their plates. But if they have accepted this critical position of guiding the well-being of a very important institution, then they should be able to prioritize enough time to do a meaningful job. I'm sure that they all have people working with them and for them who could do some of the detail work needed to get to the bottom of some of the questions suggested in this article. Whatever briefing materials that are produced for the infrequent meetings of the BOV should be provided far enough in advance so that they could be studied and any questions researched before the meeting.
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This is a good point. Does the BOV have a staff that "belongs" to the BOV to do independent analysis from UVA staff? If not, they might need to think about that. Youngkins folks apparently knew little about how the ABC agency operates, jumped in and messed things up instead of effective reform. Anyone of the BOV who has actual experience in operating a University?
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To answer your question, the BoV has no staff dedicated to performing independent analysis. Moreover, the administration is unresponsive to requests for information.
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So they're in the same shape that Helen Dragas was?
One might ask if they have no staff and no folks with knowledge and experience in running a University do they have much business telling the school how to operate?
What are they really trying to achieve that will actually result in benefit to UVA?
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Dick is correct to say that UVA expenditures on DEI — whether $7 million or $20 million — are a minor part of the university's budget. The larger point is the impact the DEI bureaucracy, and its enforcers in the office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, have on UVA's culture. DEI officials a baleful exercise influence out of proportion to their numbers. And, arguably, much of what they do is counterproductive. Rather than increasing the sense of belonging for many students, they heighten the sense of grievance and division. The reason people focus on the size and scope of the DEI bureaucracy is it can be measured.
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Makes me wonder if there is actually a shared view of what the purpose of DEI is.
I see it as a welcoming effort to diverse people to offer all of them an equitable access to a college education. Inclusive.
No matter the students ethinicity, culture, skin color, religion, physical/mental disadvantages, they welcome them and will accommodate their needs.
UVA offers free tuition to low and middlel income people.
THey work to get folks graduated.
It's not like prospective students are running away in droves… it's the opposite.
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DEI is selective as it ignores people's social, economic and political views. If you want a state university to look like Viginia, North Carolina, Connecticut or whatever, it needs to have an administration, faculty, staff and student body that reasonably approximates the makeup of the state in question. Cut the DEI staff and use the money to provide lower tuition for everyone or even more scholarships for students from low-income families.
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But UVA has to turn away people. Doesn't that indicate they ARE offering what people DO want?
I don't see student groups protesting UVA DEI. I see folks who are NOT students there doing that.
There are hundreds, thousands of schools that offer a wide range of programs and experiences that people can choose from. No one forces them to attend UVA. If they don't like the way that UVA operates, they have a lot of options to choose from.
This is more about non-students who don't really care or know about how the University operates as a whole, THey only have certain interests that have more to do with the culture war than Higher Ed per se.
At least Helen Dragas did seem to have the best interests in mind but in the end , not enough people agreed with her premise which really does show that one person or even a group with an alternative vision won't succeed if the majority of the faculty and students don't agree.
The anti-DEI folks don't really have a compelling alternative vision for UVA. THey basically have grievances and little more, in my view.
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The issue proffered by UVA and other universities is that they want diversity. But they only focus on limited types of diversity, race, sex, sexual preferences, and not the diversity of thought. It's pseudo diversity. Unless one considers all aspects of what makes humans different as individuals, there is no real diversity.
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diversity for people of different colors, ethnicity, culture, sex, gender, religion, etc is REAL and meaningful.
Diversity of thought is a concept with different opinions from different folks and basically a right-wing grievance thing that applies to only some higher ed, not all of it… and certainly not like places like Liberty U.
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If one wants real diversity and personal growth, you need to be around some people who think differently than oneself. College faculty nowadays is pretty much stacked to the left.
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TMT – THey ALWAYS have been that way, as long as I can remember. But that’s an entirely separate issue from DEI in my view. It’s like asking if Liberty U tilts left or right and what they do to deal with diversity, inclusion and equity. Or is that something only public higher ed does and privates can discriminate out the wazoo and deny access to their wonderful right wing professors?
Students have lots of choices for college. If they think a college is too far left or “too” inclusive, there are competitive options in the higher ed marketplace. Lots of choices for folks who want something in particular or don’t want something in particular.
Personally, I’d want a more “open and welcoming” college than a “closed and restricted one”………..
I guess that’s a difference between a “far left” college and a “far right”? Sounds about right.
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<i>"that is less than one percent of UVa.’s adopted budget of $2.40 billion for the academic division for the next academic year. At the Department of Planning and Budget (DPB), we would call that a “rounding error.”</i>
Nice try but no cigar. Less than 1% of Americans are murdered each year but we do not brush murder off as a "rounding error".
The issue is the activity, whether it be DEI or murder, not its percentage of the whole.
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I realize that, for those who oppose DEI, it is a matter of principle outweighing the relative small proportion of the budget that it claims. Nevertheless, over the years, there has been a lot of complaint by participants on this blog of tuition increases, administrative bloat, and the board of visitors not giving close scrutiny to the budget. However, even with a majority of Youngkin appointees after July 1, the board will only have a limited opportunity to effect the big changes promised. If the members, along with you and other opponents of DEI, want to spend that time fixating on DEI, so be it. It is a matter of priorties. However, the BOV could very well take action to eliminate the Division of Diversion, Equity, and Inclusion, with its bureaucratic apparatus, which I think would probably be a good thing, but I strongly suspect that the university would continue to operate under the general principles of DEI.
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I realize that, for those who oppose DEI, it is a matter of principle outweighing the relative small proportion of the budget that it claims. Nevertheless, over the years, there has been a lot of complaint by participants on this blog of tuition increases, administrative bloat, and the board of visitors not giving close scrutiny to the budget. However, even with a majority of Youngkin appointees after July 1, the board will only have a limited opportunity to effect the big changes promised. If the members, along with you and other opponents of DEI, want to spend that time fixating on DEI, so be it. It is a matter of priorties. However, the BOV could very well take action to eliminate the Division of Diversion, Equity, and Inclusion, with its bureaucratic apparatus, which I think would probably be a good thing, but I strongly suspect that the university would continue to operate under the general principles of DEI.
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re: " but I strongly suspect that the university would continue to operate under the general principles of DEI."
They will.
Because they fundamentally believe that education should be available to all regardless of who they are, without regard to who they are and help provided to those who need it to be successful.
It's a winning formula.
You just don't see students running away from UVA because of DEI, it's the opposite.
If the BOV fixates on DEI , I predict a Helen Dragas repeat.
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It is a matter of principle for anyone on any issue, pro or con. Discounting <u>any</u> issue on the basis of its percentage of budget rather than on the merits is a cheap shot that switches focus to dollars to the exclusion of the issue or principle involved. That explicitly destroys constructive discourse.
The E in DIE is the issue, not Diversity or Inclusion. Equity replacing Equality of opportunity substitutes outcomes based on race or sex for outcomes based on ability. That is fundamentally destructive of both the institution and our country. It is profoundly inequitable to individuals who have demonstrated ability and deludes those who matriculate on the basis of race or sex.
UVa will do well to eliminate the corrosive Equity portion of DIE. As a functional matter that may be best accomplished by eliminating the entire DIE apparatus.
That would do the right thing on a matter of principle and allow all to focus on reducing cost bloat in areas where it sops up real money. That is an area where we all can agree, except for the bureaucrats who benefit from bloat. It would be a twofer, and that ain't a rounding error.
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As far as I am concerned, "equity" is another term for equal opportunity. It entails removing barriers such as race, gender, and poverty that have prevented many in the past from having an equal opporunity to demonstrate their merit.
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Well, you are wrong, wrong as it was specified on VDoE's Equity website, and wrong as implemented.
Removing barriers to opportunity is something we can all get behind. However, Equity is not about opportunity. Equity prescribes eliminating differences in outcomes based on ability.
If Equity meant Equal Opportunity there would be no problem. Our country internalized Dr. King's dream that people be judged on the content of their characters, not the color of their skin or their sex.
Equity stands that on its head as expressed by Critical Race Theory and Kendi with <i>"The remedy for past discrimination is present discrimination and the remedy for present discrimination is future discrimination."</i> Equity is racist and sexist along with a whole host of other ists.
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And that is where you have been fooled to believe what the word means to Normies. That is not what it means in the DEI context…
I can find the UVA DEI committee definition – it means adjusting inputs and putputs to equal outcomes…
If I could upload the doc, I would. Maybe I can link…I doubt this link will get you into the Box storage, but, here goes – https://virginia.app.box.com/embed/s/xkdgv9s8t88hmmyc0k9b6w85fv6sop06
If not,
Cut and paste of just EQUITY –
Equity
• Definition: Equity is the presence of support structures that ensure that everybody has a
similar chance to succeed despite vastly differing backgrounds. For students, these
support structures include remedial classes and SDAC accommodations. For faculty,
they include mentoring by more senior faculty. For minority groups, they include actions
to ensure that they feel comfortable and at home in the greater UVA community.
• Any equity plan would need to include three aspects: (1) an aspirational statement about
where we want to be, (2) concrete and discrete steps to move us in that direction, and (3)
some means to judge how far we have moved in that direction. In particular, without the
second (and, to a lesser extent, the third), the first is of little utility.
• Equality and equity are different concepts that are easily confused. Equality as providing
the same opportunity to everybody. Equity as ensuring that everybody has the same
chance to achieve that opportunity.
o Given the population of UVA students, everybody has the same opportunity to
succeed and graduate. This is equality.
o However, some students are going to be somewhat behind their peers when they
enter as first years — due to poor high schools, concentration issues, etc. — so
UVA provides them with appropriate remedies (remedial classes, SDAC
accommodations, etc.). This is equity.
o For faculty, all have the same opportunities to get promoted (equality), but some
are going to need more support, such as mentoring (equity).
o The linked image (from here) shows this quite well.
• Equality is easy; equity requires providing sufficient support to ensure that many are not
left behind in the goal to achieve the relevant opportunities.
o We adopted the term "pathways" to opportunity, as every individual is going to
take a different path during their time at UVA. Some pathways will need more
support in the process, some will need less. Also, the term "pathways" is not as
politically charged as similar terms.
o Equity requires both funding and political will. While the political will certainly
exists at the University level, there is a stated and documented desire by those at
the state level and also current BoV members to reduce efforts for equity at
UVA. Thus, we want to focus on aspects of equity that are more likely to survive
these expected upcoming intentional efforts to dismantle equity at UVA.
• One quote (source unknown, but I was told it was paraphrased "from Biden's website"):
o "An equitable workplace is inclusive of individuals’ needs and determines what is
required for each person to be successful"
• Humans are social creatures. For them to succeed, they will need to feel comfortable and
part of the community. This is one way that diversity and inclusion tie into the equity
aspect
o There are many other valid reasons for diversity and inclusion, this is just
emphasizing one way it ties into the equity aspect -
That seems to be the same definition I use: "Equity as ensuring that everybody has the same chance to achieve that opportunity." It is not that everybody achieves the same outcome, but that everyone has the same chance (opportunity) to do so.
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That's what I thought also…weird!
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Did you read the entire thing?
• Equality and equity are different concepts that are easily confused. Equality as providing
the same opportunity to everybody. Equity as ensuring that everybody has the same
chance to achieve that opportunity.and this –
o However, some students are going to be somewhat behind their peers when they
enter as first years — due to poor high schools, concentration issues, etc. — so
UVA provides them with appropriate remedies (remedial classes, SDAC
accommodations, etc.). This is equity.And this –
o For faculty, all have the same opportunities to get promoted (equality), but some
are going to need more support, such as mentoring (equity).And this real winner – you are too smart to be fooled by these linguistic shuffles –
o Equity requires both funding and political will. While the political will certainly
exists at the University level, there is a stated and documented desire by those at
the state level and also current BoV members to reduce efforts for equity at
UVA. Thus, we want to focus on aspects of equity that are more likely to survive
these expected upcoming intentional efforts to dismantle equity at UVA.DEI is a (false) religion for the faculty and Admin at UVA.
Stop denying it. It is destructive to the fabric of society. It is explicitly racist! We are going to end racism by dividing people by race (or sex, or sexual practices, or mental sickness, or whatever victim division du jour) and demand special treatments for said "class," and then complain when people notice that the people in said class are in said class and call the notice of said public assertion of that class as "racist" "sexist" "transphobe" "misogynist" "oppressor" etc.
DESIGNED TO FAILDESIGNED TO MAKE THINGS WORSE
DESIGNED TO DESTROY WESTERN CIV THROUGH ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA
(ISRAEL MUST GO BECAUSE IT IS IN THE WAY, JUST LIKE TRUMP IS IN THE WAY)
And at some point, if the Left has any Old School liberals, there would be wide denunciation of lawfare – the J6 treatment, the Trump made up cases vs the entire outright known corruption of the Bidens, the whistleblowers get punished under Biden, abortion protesting hymn singers get jail – but you don't hear it because the Left is now Marxist.
WAKE UP
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Agree. A super simple concept. A kid has a reading disability , one that can be successfully remedied with proper help.
You help that kid.
If they have a 2nd language, ditto.
If they are disadvantaged in various different ways, helping them is right.
The anti-DEI thing has a distinct odor to it for me.
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I think you accidentally and accurately renamed the DEI Dept…
There is little hope for insight, or any meaningful discussion, once the budget has progressed to the BoV level. Poking at the admins at BoV meetings will not achieve much of anything beyond frustration. However, the BoV committee structure is one place oversight can be exercised.
Volunteer boards are by definition at a huge disadvantage dealing with professional staffs. The problem is compounded in large, complex organizations like UVa. Boards can level the playing field, but it takes organization, dedication, the desire to fulfill their oversight responsibility and to be more than a rubber stamp and a social perk.
A primary tool is board committees and sub committees dedicated to becoming informed about and reporting on areas of board interest. Those committees can learn details about the area of their charge and obtain information to provide the BoV.
The Finance Committee is obviously the place for budget questions to be explored and reporting questions to be resolved before the budget gets to the BoV.
The Audit, Compliance and Risk Committee is another useful venue, especially in areas where the BoV has questions and the administration is unforthcoming. Make identifying data the BoV wants and scheduling it part of the Audit. There have been material defects in UVa accounting in recent years. Have they been resolved? What else do the auditors feel would be useful? What is in the management letter?
It is difficult for a volunteer board to provide meaningful oversight of an organization with full time paid staff. It is badly over matched. The board providing itself staff resources independent of institutional administration is a tool to remedy this problem. Think Congressional Budget Office that costs out administration budget requests. The BoV could do a lot of oversight with the $7M-$20M currently spent on DIE.
BoV committee inquiries and reporting are also the way around UVa stonewalling FOIA requests. Staff cannot claim FOIA exemptions from providing information to its own board.
With the incoming Youngkin appointed majority on UVa's BoV there is the opportunity to create a structure that can obtain transparency and responsiveness from the administration. But the BoV must organize and decide to do something other than be a rubber stamp. It will not be easy.
UVa BoV committee structure:
https://bov.virginia.edu/committees
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I agree with you. The minutes of the Finance Committee indicate that it met regularly over the last academic year, mostly in conjunction with the meetings of the full board, but occasionally in between full board meetings. The minutes describe the presentations of various university finance staff, with the exception of the October meeting which involved "contextual" discussion of the budget. Of course, the meetings do not reveal the nature or extent of member questions during the meetings nor anything about briefings requested, or inquiries submitted, by individual board mbers
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I believe your career at DPB would make you a huge asset to the UVa finance committee. You've got the experience to break down big numbers and extract data. I don't see how anyone could come onto UVa's board and have any real insight into how the numbers work without profound assistance.
My experience was mostly on the institutional side and included staffing boards as a finance officer. While we provided information as requested, we were always so much better informed, prepared and resourced that volunteer board members never really had a chance.
If the Jefferson Council had the resources and interest in becoming UVa budget mavens along with interested members of the finance committee it could provide real budget and information expertise to the BoV. That could provide BoV leverage on UVa policy.
As it is it looks like a lot of what's happening is sort of peeing into the wind.
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The University of Virginia (UVA) had approximately 17,618 undergraduate students in the fall of 2023.
$20m / 17,618 = $1,135.20.
It's a start.
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