Posted on 04/10/2024 7:58:32 AM PDT by george76
Increase includes vice chancellor for diversity, other DEI positions
The University of Nebraska at Lincoln added more than 350 new positions in the past decade – nearly all of them administrative – while student enrollment numbers remained steady...
Among the new hires is a vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion. His salary for the current year is $267,585 ..
During the 2022-23 school year, the most recent data available, the public university’s Lincoln campus employed 4,014 full-time administrators and support staff...
In 2013-2014, IPEDS data shows UNL employed 3,720 administrators and support staff – meaning it added 294 administrative positions in 10 years.
Administrators and support staff include management, student and academic affairs divisions, IT, public relations, administrative support, maintenance, legal and other non-academic departments.
Meanwhile, across the same decade, the number of teaching and instructional staff increased by 60, and student enrollment remained relatively the same, about 18,100, according to the data.
UNL employs about one faculty member for every 10 students and about one administrator for every five students.
The ratio of faculty to students increased slightly from 99 faculty per 1,000 students in 2013 to 102 in 2022...
However, the ratio of administrative and support staff to students increased more, going from 206 to 221 per 1,000 students...
...
Calling for DEI program cuts..
In November, UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett said they are considering an $800,000 cut to “diversity and inclusion” programs due to a pending budget deficit...
UNL’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion will be restructured to primarily support university-wide priorities and initiatives with a greater focus on DEI efforts occurring at the college and unit level,” Bennett wrote...
Doug Kagan, president of Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, ...
DEI really represents “division, exclusion, and indoctrination on our college campuses
...
It seeks to destroy our present system in which individuals attain success based on competence, diligent work, and merit, not through taking advantage through perceived victim status,” Kagan said, adding, “Our tax money should not fund this intellectual nonsense.”
Prioritizing diversity, inclusion in hiring..
The Lincoln campus employs at least 40 people just for DEI programs.
Its Diversity and Inclusion Office has 10 full-time employees, including a vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion – a position it created in 2019, one year after forming the office. Other DEI staff include a director of faculty engagement and well-being and an assistant vice chancellor for inclusive leadership and learning.
For the current academic year, the salary/wages budget for the office is more than $800,000....
One of the office’s projects is the Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of Gender and Sexual Identities. Among other things, the commission gives out an award to individuals, departments, or campus organizations “that have made a significant impact on the LGBTQA+ community.”
The Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance employs 16 people, including a civil rights resolution specialist and affirmative action officer, and the Gender and Sexuality Center employs 13 ...
But other employees, including faculty and staff, also may have been hired based on their commitment to diversity and inclusion...
John Sailer, a senior fellow with the National Association of Scholars, found “DEI has been central to hiring decisions” in many University of Nebraska programs, including the College of Engineering.
The university’s evaluation rubric gave good marks to job candidates “who identify and discuss ‘intersectional aspects of diversity’ — while punishing those who fail to ‘distinguish inclusion from diversity,’” according to Sailer’s investigation.
UNL also began offering a “Racial Justice, Equity, and Inclusion” minor in 2021, and its DEI office gives out seven awards every year to faculty, staff, students, and alumni who “actively advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in transformative and sustainable ways.”
Additionally, a campus program launched earlier this year recruits “teachers of color” to “address the challenges of white normative spaces in education...
Lawmakers taking action...
The university’s DEI efforts have come under scrutiny in recent years.
Republican Gov. Jim Pillen, a former university regent, is among the critics. During his campaign, he said critical race theory should “not be taught in our K-12 schools, and it shouldn’t ever be forced on a student at the University of Nebraska.”
“It is morally wrong to silence people or invalidate their viewpoints because of their skin color,” he said previously. “These should not be divisive or political statements. We’re all created equal in the eyes of God, and we should be judged by the content of our character, not the color of our skin.”
Meanwhile, state Sen. Dave Murman introduced legislation in January to prohibit public colleges and universities from requiring employees to participate in “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs or sign contracts requiring support for it. It also would ban spending tax dollars on DEI programs.
Only 300?
That’s the direct result of telling people that the only path to success is with a college education and then giving the easy to get student loans for practically unlimited amounts.
| Race and Hispanic Origin | Fraction |
|---|---|
| White alone, percent | 88% |
| Black or African American alone, percent | 5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native alone | 2% |
| Asian alone | 3% |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone | 0% |
| Two or More Races, percent | 3% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 12% |
EVERY government organization seeks first to increase the size of its staff.
I saw the other day that the federal government now has over 22 MILLION employees.
Having worked in higher education for thirty years that is par for the course. Administrative positions are numerous and expanding. They don’t fire a screw up they just kick them to a new position.
My wife now works in higher ed and they have a grant writer who has been on the payroll for nearly a year and has yet to write the first grant request. Her last position was phased out by budget constraints and being friends with the college president resulted in this new position. Keep in mind they contract out their grant writing to a company that specializes in writing only higher ed grants. There is immense waste in higher education and 99% of it is in the administrative and faculty positions, most staff positions have been cut into the bone.
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