The Mix 2024: UNC system eliminates DEI requirements
By Grayson Casey
East Chapel Hill High School
While college admissions offices and applicants continue to adjust to the Supreme Court decision about affirmative action in admissions, it’s unclear how a new statewide policy on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts will affect campuses.
In May, the UNC Board of Governors voted unanimously to repeal a 2019 policy that required each university to have a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) office. By Sept. 1, each university is required to implement a new policy that focuses on “equality within the university.”
The exact impacts of the repeal on jobs and support services are unknown, but the changed policy will not affect class instruction, student organizations or research, according to a Q&A released by UNC Communications last month.
But UNC students have protested the change.
The Black Student Movement at UNC-Chapel Hill was one group that voiced disappointment and concern. “In removing these policies, the Board of Governors could set a dangerous precedent and hinder the progress we have slowly begun to make towards greater equity in education,” the Black Student Movement said in a statement released in April after an initial committee vote to repeal the policy.
UNC System President Peter Hans has acknowledged the concerns held by members of the community but said UNC campuses will support diversity and inclusion through “principled neutrality:” a practice that keeps an institution from taking sides on any specific issue.
“Higher education does not exist to settle the most difficult debates in our democracy. Our role
is to host those debates, to inform them, to make them richer and more constructive. That’s a
vital responsibility, and we can’t fulfill it if our institutions are seen as partisan actors in one
direction or another,” Hans said in a statement to the Board in May.
As effects of the new policy continue to unfold, students who value diversity, equity and inclusion as a part of their college experience should not be discouraged from researching and seeking out opportunities, Olive said.
“If there are things that are important to you, I would seek (them) out. If there are cultural centers that you are interested in, reach out to those more directly, hopefully offices and admissions offices will have events that showcase some of those different offerings, and see how you would feel on campus,” Olive said.