Great news! The University of Mississippi has just announced it will be closing its DEI department, the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.
The University’s DEI department has been the driving force behind “Pathways to Equity”, a five-year university wide strategic plan committed to equity and racial justice. Under “Pathways to Equity” everything at the university – including curriculum content – has been increasingly managed through the prism of intersectional ideology. According to public records requests that MCPP submitted, Ole Miss is still spending millions on its various DEI initiatives. The head of the Division of Diversity, Shawnboda Mead, alone is on $246,881 a year. If Ole Miss really is going to dismantle the apparatus of woke ideology, great. I fear, however, that what we have here is merely a rebrand. Chancellor Glenn Boyce, who made the announcement about the name change in an email, must surely sense that the political climate is changing. Alumni are increasingly reluctant to donate to what they perceive as ‘woke’ academics who despise their values. Boyce seems to be trying to head off anti DEI legislation. Until now, Mississippi’s liberal Senate leadership has been able to block various bills that would tackle DEI in our public universities. However, the Senate leadership is increasingly weak, if not yet a lame duck.
Mississippi’s weak Senate leadership failed to block school funding reform in the last
session, despite every effort. The weak Senate leadership will only grow weaker in
2025 and may not have the strength to keep blocking anti DEI law.
Boyce perhaps senses this, and has cooked up a deal with the good ole boys to try to
head off the anti DEI legislation we need.
Governors in many nearby states have taken effective action against DEI ideology,
issuing Executive Orders. Curiously our Governor has chosen not to take any action
against ‘woke’ ideology despite mountains of evidence action is needed. This is
puzzling.
I suspect this may change. The urge to appear on Fox News or get noticed by Team
Trump may soon exceed the desire to keep in with university bureaucrats.
The rising generation of Republican leaders in our state, such as State Auditor, Shad
White, are clear that they want to see an end to using public money to promote divisive,
race-based DEI ideology.
Chancellor Boyce’s move seems to me as much an attempt at deflection, as it is a
serious effort to root out woke ideology. What the university really wants is to head off
legislation that would outlaw the promotion of an ideology that is increasingly
commonplace among third rate academics in our public universities.
University administrators across America have made a Faustian bargain with their ultra
progressive faculty. They tip toe around the cultural Marxists on campus, allowing them
to promote extreme leftist ideology, in return for a quiet life.
University administrators have appeased the ‘woke’ monster in the hope that it might
eat them last.
This is why the Division of Diversity might be going, but it is to be replaced by a
new Division of Access, Opportunity, and Community Engagement. The new Division
will be run, it has been reported, by the same head who ran the old one.
Mediocre academics at the Department of English will, I suspect, continue to “embrace
diversity, inclusion, and equity as central to the scholarly mission” while “recognizing the
ongoing legacies of systemic inequity within the institutions of our academic field”.
Nothing in Boyce’s announcement suggests he is about to get serious about rooting out
ultra leftist academics that hold tenure. If there is any new commitment to ensuring
intellectual diversity at Ole Miss, I must have missed it. Far easier to keep feeding the
monster, rather than confront it.
If Boyce was serious about ending DEI, he would commit to running the university on
the principle of equality – treating every person equally – not equity – the idea that
outcomes should be manipulated to tackle perceived or historic disadvantages.
What is encouraging is that Boyce and his team are not seeking to defend DEI from first
principle.
In just three years, DEI has become indefensible.
Here at MCPP we will keep punching the bruise until this deeply divisive, extremist
ideology is no longer being pushed on young minds using your tax dollars. The moral
case for discriminating against some of today’s students because of what happened
before they were even born has collapsed.
Mississippi’s weak Senate leadership might not appreciate our efforts to end DEI, but so
what? The values we teach the next generation of young people in America are vastly
more important that the feelings on any ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ politicians.
I am not convinced that rebranding the DEI department is going to be enough to stave
off legislation. I doubt that all the free tickets to all the football games will be enough to
prevent change.
Douglas Carswell is the President & CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public
Policy. MCPP sponsored this post.
31 comments:
The contempt these people have for others knows no limit. They still think that merely changing a name will fool people into thinking the substance has changed. Similar to when what were known as liberals were rebranded as progressives.
"What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
The same DEI staff and employees remain; the same salaries and benefits are paid.
You tell me. The only way this will truly end is by legislative
action
The new name of Boyce's toy is DAOC. Division of AOC. Entirely appropriately since Boyce is a fan of AOC in our national congress.
This is about as silly as the university attempts to rebrand its image by changing mascots three times in six years, screening off a time-honored memorial statue and banishing Colonel Reb to the library basement.
Not sure what he means by this: “ The moral case for discriminating against some of today’s students because of what happened before they were even born has collapsed.” How are white students at Ole Miss being discriminated against? The school essentially has open enrollment, so no white students are being denied slots by affirmative action. In fact, Ole Miss has far fewer black students, as a percentage, than other public universities in the state. Also, his notion of getting rid of tenured professors because of their leftist politics is nuts. How would this work? Who is in charge of deciding which ideas are okay to espouse and which aren’t? He doesn’t sound like a freedom loving conservative to me. He also doesn’t sound like a person who understands Ole Miss or our state universities.
It has become obvious that Gov. Reeves is a do nothing. His staff is ineffective and totally rude to constituents. He is totally stand offish to the average Mississippian. His latest big announcement was regarding the distribution of grant money. His economic development team are a group of arrogant outsiders. If he will not sign an executive order ending DEI and all of its off-shoots then why vote Republican? Chris McDaniel would be just as effective at this point as Reeves. It seems to be just a case of the establishment versus the every day citizen.
For the most part DEI at Ole Miss is just a public relations ploy to counter the prevailing image of Ole Miss as a backwards haven of redneck racist thought. Nationwide the image still prevails and it's hard to shake and would be even harder if Ole Miss was on the forefront of oppositon to DEI. Let institutions and states with less historic baggage do the fighting while UM pays hundreds of thousands to hire a few diversity tokens which is a cheap price to pay for a more intellectually acceptable image.
In fact, Ole Miss has far fewer black students, as a percentage, than other public universities in the state.
Link? Put up.
Anywhere DEI is being practiced, white people are being discriminated against. While we have a common sense Supreme Court I wish a case against this egregious practice of racism would come in front of them. It seems patently illegal to me.
Same WOKE crap at MUW. Governor and Legislature need to get involved.
As of 22-23 school year, black students were 11% of Ole Miss student body. https://irep.olemiss.edu/fall-2022-2023-enrollment/ This is FAR BELOW the percentage of Mississippi's black population. Black enrollment is higher at MSU; much higher at USM and DSU. So, how exactly is Ole Miss a "DEI" university?
@ August 30, 2024 at 11:13 AM
In fact, Ole Miss has far fewer black students, as a percentage, than other public universities in the state.
Which should technically affect their funding, based on the Ayers Case
@12:41
Are you suggesting that total enrollment should match the black- white population ratio in MS. Where do you get that idea?
11:52 if you require a link for that data, you aren’t from around here. Even Ole Miss fans know that.
If this level of true evil is insinuated this far into Ole Miss, I fear we may all well be lost. Come Lord Jesus.
Enrollment by race, ethnicity and gender. See Page 3
http://www.mississippi.edu/research/downloads/2023enrollmentbook.pdf
"He also doesn’t sound like a person who understands Ole Miss..."
I know that's got to be code, but I haven't yet figured out what for.
Ole Miss is the home of the ole shuck and jive!
1:38. Certainly not, but look at the question from this perspective: should the state's flagship(?) university be concerned that it has the smallest black population of any IHL university? Again, there is essentially open enrollment. Many college-bound black students just don't feel comfortable at Ole Miss. Should the University care about that? If so, then programs that help black students feel welcome seem like a good idea to me. Carswell has no understanding about any of this. He's just dragging national culture wars down here.
THIS! He has no clue what universities are doing to help educate a state that has the LOWEST citizens with a 4-year degree in the country. Statistically speaking and factually screaming, the more of our citizens that have 4-year degrees the better we are as a state. Unless the Red Coat wants us to stay stupid and just have a medium wage citizenry. You have to get MS kids to go to college. Not all are going to and that is fine, but for God's sake, let's have more than we have now (37%)
@ August 30, 2024 at 3:14 PM
Mind you - with no ties to the state whatsoever. Yet alone the country. Mississippi's brand is tied to Ole Miss from James Meredith enrolling in the university. For some damn reason, bigots from across the country find their way to Mississippi thinking its the status quo, when in actuality its not.
Are racial relations here perfect? Hell no! But, we need to send a message to the rest of the country that Mississippi is truly beyond its brutal past. And this "Anti-DEI" foolishness does nothing to improve this states image from a brand perspective.
Shad found that Mississippi colleges spend $23 million on DEI. Of that amount, $13 million goes to military veterans. When did veterans come under DEI?
What could go wrong with lowering standards/rubber stamping the unqualified through the coursework and "graduating" incompetents, especially those with drills and scalpels.
I'm no fan of Ole Miss but I'd bet good money that Ole Miss has a higher percentage of black students than JSU, Alcorn and Ms Valley have of white students.
@10:41 And your point is?
And the incarcerated as well, I'll bet. See how deep the rabbit hole goes.
It goes all the way back to Chancelor Khayat who banned flags and started the campaign to bury Colonel Reb.
Why would he do that? No other reason than to garner glad-handing and cheers from his peers across the nation when they gathered at places like Destin and Denver. He had finally achieved national status as a liberal and could not wait to write his book.
Oh, 2:33, the point 10:41 makes is that (notwithstanding AYERS) no HBCU in this state enrolls anywhere near an overall enrollment % of white students as the other universities do of black students. This is a conversation of diversity and inclusion.
After a brief search, the committee to rename DEI located the library on campus, and after asking for assistance we’re able to find a Thesaurus. After a few hours searching for new names for the same program, the committee settled on “Affirmative Action Committee”
When did veterans come under DEI?
August 31, 2024 at 12:35 AM
So ... veterans can't be of different races? Or different genders? Or different sexual orientations? Or different gender identities?
Are you opposed to diversity in higher education?
Are you opposed to equity in higher education?
Are you opposed to inclusiveness in higher education?
If so you are most likely a member of the MAGA cult.
And you claim to be an attorney. How can an attorney not know that military veterans are granted preference in many employment situations, including initial hire, promotion and retention.
That sorta meshes with DEI, would you not agree, counselor?
Ole Miss Law has a Dean of Diversity
Why can’t we have more control over our universities. Why are they so pampered. If we don’t take legislative action they will woke themselves to death. It’s a waste of resources. Yet we sit idly by.
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