You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington has released details on its DEI restructuring plan, the first UNC institution to do so since the system board of governors ordered campus leaders to cut DEI-specific positions and spending in June.
UNC Wilmington will shutter its Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion (OIDI), eliminate its chief diversity officer position and move cultural centers currently under the OIDI umbrella to the office of Student Affairs, according to an announcement from chancellor Aswani Volety. Chief Diversity Officer Donyell Roseboro will remain a faculty member, and other OIDI staff have been offered positions in Academic and Student Affairs. A UNCW spokesperson said there were no lay offs planned.
The plan mirrors that of other public universities facing anti-DEI political pressure, such as the University of Missouri at Columbia and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where leaders said the restructuring would forestall widespread layoffs and maintain support services for underserved students.
In states that passed sweeping anti-DEI laws, like Texas and Florida, dozens of staff have been laid off, resources have been gutted, and cultural centers shuttered. UNC system leaders hoped to avoid that fate by overseeing the dismantling of campus DEI offices themselves; UNCW’s plan, if approved by the board, will be the first test of that theory.
Other UNC campuses have until Sept. 1 to submit their plans to the board of governors.
This story has been updated with commentary from the university confirming it has no lay offs planned as part of the office closure.
