State Auditor Shad White authored this post.
Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Those sound like nice words to some. But the truth is that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (or DEI) programs are highly controversial and often push ideas that many Americans dislike. From discussions of “whiteness” and “systemic racism” to “Pride Week,” Mississippi taxpayers deserve transparency into what millions of their dollars are going toward.
Let me back up and provide more detail. DEI programs are initiatives that big companies and schools have put into place. They often train employees or offer events designed, in their mind, to make their offices or campuses more welcoming.
The truth, though, is that DEI initiatives are often explosive. For example, President Trump stopped all DEI training in the federal government when he found that some of the training was teaching federal employees that “virtually all White people contribute to racism.”
So what did we find when we asked how your tax dollars are being spent at Mississippi universities on DEI? A liberal news outlet, Mississippi Today, published a column that tried to frame DEI as if it were all puppies and rainbows. Literally. Their headline describing our study suggested DEI spending at Mississippi universities was mostly “pet-a-puppy” programs, artist lectures, and programming for veterans. Their left-wing columnist, Molly Minta, wrote this, so I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that she’d frame DEI spending positively (Minta has also written fringe articles about how important it is for hospitals to give puberty-blocking hormones to children, which she called “care for trans kids”).
Was all the DEI spending on puppy petting programs? No. Let’s take my alma mater, the University of Mississippi, as an example. Ole Miss spent more on DEI than any other public university. What did it pay for? The university’s Diversity and Community Engagement office sponsored the reading of a book that taught that “whiteness” is a threat to Black people. The same book argues that “[t]he only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.”
Just to make it plain, this sort of language is dangerous and divisive. It tears us apart, not brings us together. And taxpayers paid for initiatives like this.
Most people understand these ideas are a cancer. To prove it, imagine the outcry if the university ran similar programming saying “blackness” is a threat to White people. You can have a discussion of insane ideas on campus, but I personally don’t think the taxpayers should be asked to promote the insane idea.
Let’s keep digging. The Ole Miss Chancellor’s DEI “Institutional Strategic Plan” says its goal is to “address systemic racism head-on.” Again, most Mississippi taxpayers don’t want their money going to tell students that systemic racism is holding students of color back. We should not use public resources promoting this message, because it teaches young, impressionable eighteen-year-olds that they are victims of some oppressive force outside of their control. It doesn’t promote self-confident, motivated people who believe they can shape their own destiny.
Finally, the University of Mississippi hosted “Pride Week,” which was a part of promoting DEI, according to a university staffer. One of the goals of the week according to that staffer was to ensure that “queer kids have a day that they get to be themselves.” You may believe the idea that a child can decide that she is a boy or is queer (I don’t), but at minimum, you should acknowledge not everyone agrees, and the taxpayers shouldn’t be subsidizing this kind of programming.
I could provide more examples, but you get the picture.
Two things can be true at once: we can love our universities but not support these kinds of initiatives. I think our universities do a great job on many fronts. But I also think it’s important that their bosses—the voters of Mississippi—know how their dollars are being spent.
You should also know DEI spending is growing. We found DEI spending at Mississippi universities increased 47% since 2019. As it grows, those dollars are mainly paying adults to think of the kinds of programs I describe above. If the true mission of DEI were to increase diversity on campus, one would think DEI dollars would be going to scholarships for poor students. Instead, over 70% went to adults’ salaries in 2023. Now is the time for voters to be asking if they’re comfortable with this, and if not, they should call their legislator.
Shad White is the 42nd State Auditor of Mississippi
46 comments:
I keep getting pinged to do this DEI training by "Get Inclusive" but I have disregarded each time. Not within my job duties!
These university leaders are misleading Mississippi taxpayers, legislators and the public in general. They know full well that the DEI classes on their campuses teach black victimhood and white oppression-- fostering black animus and white guilt by the students who attend there.
Shad is just too smart to not share his opinion on every buzz word in politics. Thanks for enlightening us plebs Shad. We never could have figured out how to think without the master chiming in.
Shad should get a hat like Kenny Stokes that just says "SHAD". That way he can promote his campaign without being specific about which office he is running for next. He is defining the term "hot button". Run SHAD Run.
Shad is tilting at windmills- becoming a bigot!
DEI is a non-winnable game.
For all the haters, yes this is common sense but sadly no one else is doing anything or standing up. Imagine having a child right now, they are probably being brainwashed at school on how to become a mysterious new gender.
Corporate CEOs, university chancellors and presidents, department heads, agency directors and managers, location managers, supervisors and others, whether in line for promotion or just retention - know (or are being instructed) if they intend to remain in the job, they damned-well better get aboard the Woke-Train.
For a bunch of "hard-asses" you guys sure get offended EVERY DAY about something.
So he cherry picks lines from one book (likely, taken way out of context) that an office within the University “sponsored,” whatever that means; claims that systematic racism doesn’t exists; starts crying about Pride Week; and his best retort against the Mississippi Today article is that it was written by someone he characterized as liberal.
It’s becoming more and more apparent that this guy (Shad White) is more interested in getting his base riled up (and spending state dollars to do the same) against some imaginary liberal boogeyman than in doing real work. It’s more of the same that keeps this State at the bottom—where it shouldn’t be.
I'll bet that Shad wrote this while on Taxpayer time. Let's audit his timesheets and see what they say!
Shad may be helping his campaign ,but I thank him for bringing to light the communist DEI agenda at public universities. It is an another way to cause resentment and division among all people. Stop this dividing people and trying to make all people equal when a student excels ,is it OK to put another less qualified for a scholarship in front of them because of race? NO! It shows that hard work and responsibility doesn't count.
DEI is not inclusion or equity. POC have openly segregated themselves while they demand that no other race do the same exact thing.
If I called myself a "White King" and said I prefer to spend my white dollars at a white owned store, I am white privilege personified.
But when POC state those same things in support of their own, they are celebrated as strong black leaders.
Why cant both be celebrated?
Somebody needs to make taxpayers aware of this. Thank you Shad White for doing so. Does our current governor approve of spending tax payer dollars on this garbage? How about other elected officials?
Well said Mr. White!
Yes, you are correct. Many people feel the only solution to past discrimination is present discrimination and perpetual punishment to and for anyone disagreeing with the left.
I have no desire for DEI to exist at my expense in public schools.
Hey, Shad! I didn't see one word in your diatribe suggesting that the expenditures were unconstitutional, unauthorized, or illegal. All I saw was your opinion that you disagreed with the spending. That's not your job. Stay in your lane, do your job, stop politicking on the taxpayers' dime. Where's your opinion piece on the TANF scandal, especially the possible involvement of Bryant and Reeves? A lot of people in the TANF scandal have money that you could recoup for the taxpayers. Once again, just do your job, and pay for your politicking out of your own pocket.
while i agree with no DEI , shad is running for office nothing more nothing less. He did beat cowboy Andy to this topic and he gets a prize for that!
Maybe Cowboy Andy will tell shad where he get the banners with his face all over them..
11:34 You can be the "Irish King" or "Dutch King" but there is no "white" culture aside from supremacy.
The reason that black Americans celebrate their black culture is because their entire ancestry was eradicated due to slavery. They don't know where they came from. Chattel slavery kept no records. So they band together to celebrate black identity the same way we celebrate Irish, German, etc.
Critical thinking is a wonderful thing.
Shad putting this statement out the day after Juneteenth is a dog whistle, and frankly it's DISAPPOINTING but unsurprising.
The GOP have become culture-war crybabies with ZERO solutions.
In advanced societies there are places where knowledge is taught, knowledge is advanced, ideas are discussed, all done freely and without suppression. These places are called universities. I read where Shad thinks certain ideas are being advanced at a so-called university, but it seems that he is more interested in suppression than advancing his own ideas, if he really has any beyond self interest.
Did we not just have this exact conversation?
Nefarious deeds with innocuous names, i.e. good things don’t need to be hidden.
Thank you Mr.Shad White for standing up and speaking truth about this divisive garbage.
More dog-whistle stuff. The Democrats keep their serfs on the plantation with their pandering bull and the Repubs like Shad are trying to outdo them. Just keep pointing at the other guy while accomplishing nothing. Give us a break. Do your Job!
I can't believe so many people have been beaten into submission by the perpetual victims and complainers on the left. A few points after reading the never ending excuses of the "grievance industry" investors:
1. DNA testing can show you what part of Africa someone came from, just like it can show what parts of Europe you came from.
2. This DEI industry has thoroughly metastasized to all parts of our society, including most churches and schools and all corporations. I guess that's why you think it's normal. The diversity industry wasn't even around in this form before Obama's administration. Now every college and company has a thoroughly worthless diversity department which creates no profit or products, only existing to scare and intimidate people and make new rules and positions to justify its existence.
3. Under the new rules, you can't ask about merit, achievements, grades, test scores, experience- only racial and sexual identity matter . White and Asian and other male kids are getting the S end of the stick while less capable others get promoted. If you dare question this system, you're persona non grata. You're expendable.
4. Technically, all the bad things the Germans and Russians and other socialists did in the past century were legal and constitutional at the time they did them. The DEI industry needs to DIE and be buried before it gets any worse. It's seriously unfair treatment and is going to only make our country and state weaker.
Shad White said “Most people understand these ideas are a cancer.”
Really? Then why are conservatives that support and vote Republican donating millions (some from their PPP rich man’s welfare money that they did not need or deserve) to these universities that support these “cancerous ideas?”
You want to know why democrats have turned this country into a racially divided pervert freak show? Because idiot Republicans are too full of themselves, having their pictures taken (measuring contest) and having fun - to tell these leftist universities we are not donating to this insanity!
P. S. Search: Lawyer for detransitioning woman, 18, who had surgery aged 13 slams doctors at Kaiser Permanente - and says kids should be informed they could outgrow their gender dysphoria
For all the people complaining this is "him preparing for a Shad campaign", you should be shaming whoever made this such a slam dunk. Anybody with any political ambition with half a brain would be utilitizing this breasts poppin at da whitehouse, boys in the girls wash room, men dominating women sports hot mess to the max.
And if you are a liberal, and love all this you must admit it is fair for me to respect your right to talk and believe it, without wanting it to have the support of my hard earned tax dollars.
If companies implement DEI in their investing without the clear consent of the investors, these companies should be forces to reimburse the investors for any underperformance.
It's no surprise Ole Miss is the leader in MS of spending on these ridiculous issues. I attended an Ole Miss scholarly event over a decade ago, and it was clear even that far back that OM has a SERIOUS race problem. They just couldn't seem to get past it. At every single gathering, all they discussed was how guilty they felt about race relations and the self-flagellation they required.
Shad, the last time you jumped into something dealing with the University of Mississippi, you were shown to be the pipsqueak you are. Good job being as vague as you can be. Its harder to get your ass handed to you and you get to beat your birdlike chest all the while not getting bitch slapped again. You are the most useless statewide politician in MS. I bet if Favre decided Southern needed a DEI facility, you wouldnt' open your mouth.
Isn't there an unauthorized Fuelman charge in Bugtussle you need to do a press release about?
12:08. Bill, we don't mind.
12:29 "The reason that black Americans celebrate their black culture is because their entire ancestry was eradicated due to slavery. They don't know where they came from. Chattel slavery kept no records. So they band together to celebrate black identity the same way we celebrate Irish, German, etc."
Sad reality is that even most whites probably don't know their upline beyond their parents and grandparents. Yeah, suppose they could do a genealogy search and some may find further back... but reality is that none of those previous generational folks have virtually anything to do with their livelihood today. What you do today is what you earn and achieve... not what some did 150-250 years ago.
@1:41 says "Then why are conservatives that support and vote Republican donating millions (some from their PPP rich man’s welfare money that they did not need or deserve) to these universities that support these “cancerous ideas?”
Answer: Well, @1:41, the late Sam Francis uswd to say the Republicans aren't called "The Stupid Party" for nothing.
"Answer: Well, @1:41, the late Sam Francis uswd to say..."
It's always easy to quote a dead man since you can't be proven wrong. But, are you sure it wasn't Andy Rooney? Robin Williams?
Every comment here could have been cut and pasted from the Shad post last week.
10:03 PM, “Stupid Party” doesn’t do a good enough job of describing Republicans.
It’s bad enough that leftist universities are actually acting as hate groups choosing to focus on indoctrinating young impressionable minds for political purposes with only the part of history that turns them into leftist Democrats, while purposely not focusing on the extreme sacrifices made by American whites to end slavery, that slavery existed for a thousand years before Europeans arrived in Africa, that Africans having sold slaves should share the blame for slavery, that nobody alive in America today ever owned a slave, etc., etc., etc.
But now leftist Democrats are hell bent on perverting the minds of little innocent children too young to be exposed to any kind of sexual conversations, and idiot Republicans keep sending them enemy money via their hey look at me measuring contest.
The Bible is extremely clear on the sins of harming children.
I’m confused. So we should only get to spend our tax dollars on things that everyone agrees to? Perhaps I don’t think the Auditor should use state resources to campaign for reelection (e.g.: this article). It’s a nice concept, but our country has never been founded on simple ‘majority rule’ — there are a number of minority positions in this country that we spend money on, even if we don’t agree on them. That’s how it works and that’s how it’s supposed to work.
The red herring here is Shadrack continually spends taxpayer money on politically charged issues instead of finding fraud. Every dollar spent on this nonsense is a dollar that isn't spent doing the central charge of the office of the state auditor in an attempt to score political points. We get that you want to run for higher office... and that you're super smart... but do this work on your own time using funds raised for that purpose and get back to the basics of the office, putting crooks in handcuffs.
@8:49 And how do you know he did this on the clock and spent taxpayer money of this article? He coulda wrote it at midnight sitting in a bathrobe eating a bowl of cereal.
First, it's troubling that an official who's supposed to be an objective "numbers guy" is so transparently partisan, going straight to terms like radical and fringe to dismiss criticism.
I know state auditor is just an entry-level position for handpicked future GOP statewide office-seekers, but that's a pretty lousy way to choose someone who's supposed to be an impartial "balls and strikes" accountant.
Second, it has never been the case that states only fund projects at universities if all or most taxpayers already agree with them. You're thinking of trade schools. Universities are where we create new ideas and test them. A university that only sponsors projects or areas of study that taxpayers fully understand and agree with isn't a university.
If 51% of the population of North Carolina had to explicitly approve of everything the UNC system does, for example, it wouldn't be the multi-billion dollar economic driver and population builder it is.
To be fair, it's true that some parts of DEI are misguided. Both sides of the political spectrum have their ridiculous fringes, and some of DEI falls into that category.
But a huge portion of it is just about promoting mutual respect between different groups and reaching out to historically left out people. There's nothing remotely controversial about this stuff -- except in the self-induced, hallucinatory moral panic world of Republicans circa 2020-23.
And if you actually read the report, you'll see that's true. That's why Shad's essay here is so short, and has so few (and such tepid) "gotcha" examples.
In short, this is precisely the kind of angertainment we expect from an ambitious, comically partisan, thin-skinned junior GOP politician. Just don't pretend it's objective "auditing".
“But a huge portion of it is just about promoting mutual respect between different groups and reaching out to historically left out people.”, I would really, really like for you to point out the parts of DEI that promote mutual respect for people that aren't people of color. I'll hang up and listen.
2:29 I'm not 2:06 but I can tell you that university examinations of Title IX (women's participation), native American studies, impact and reaction to immigration, handicapped inclusion, holocaust research, age-discrimination,
etc. etc. etc. will all fall into categories that get universities like Ole Miss the additional DEI funding they so crave. But only the subjects that stimulate your racial nervous system will get mention from opportunist politicians like this Shad character. Believe it or not, there are other things going on at real universities that might scare you to death if you only knew. The best thing you said was "I'll hang up and listen". Good first step. You might learn something.
We learn plenty about indians, immigration, ww2 and how to live amongst and include the handicapped etc etc etc in k-12. I don’t agree with funneling taxpayer money into some new woke department to mainly pay the added “experts”. There’s no DEI degree they can earn from this but I bet it makes plenty of liberal whites feel awesome about themselves. They should just do their job instead of telling students how they should feel and act towards groups.
The thing I learned was that you listed no examples to prove your assertions. You provided none.
If you were honest, and you aren't, you would admit that there aren't any programs in DEI that promote unity towards white people. DEI is a tool to divide people, to cause conflict.
How can you people be so ignorant to think two wrongs will make one right? The truth is, making things right isn't what you want. The supporters of DEI are so filled with hate, and bitterness, the thought process of what's right has no place. So the white man is your preferred fixation for hate. It must really suck to be you.
If I ever lose my mind and start hating others, I'll take me a DEI course, so I can do it right.
The *last* thing DEI does or attempts to do is encourage mutual respect and getting along with groups of people who look different from each other.
That comment takes the cake. And the mudpie.
2:06 PM must be drawing a sweet check from one of the local Grievance and Perpetual Victim Promotion Departments, AKA Diversity Directors. These programs promote nothing but hatred and mistrust between groups of people. They produce nothing. They promote discrimination and bigotry, which are the very things they claim to be fighting. They are highly dogmatic and puritanical and you dare not question a single thing they promote. You'll find yourself fired and disgraced and sent to a guidance counselor in a heartbeat.
"some parts", my ass.
8:09 is the most truthful synopsis of DEI that I have read. And I have stated many of the same points asking how 2 wrongs make a right. They don't. They seek revenge. Not equality.
Unfortunately, truth is no longer a currency that people value.
Optics and narratives sell.
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