University of Florida Fired All of Its DEI Staff

A little over a year ago Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a plan to get rid of DEI at Florida Universities. But the University of Florida pushed back a little on that. Last July, Christopher Rufo accused the school of doing its best to hide just how extensive DEI had become.

DeSantis, a Republican, late last year told Florida’s public universities to disclose all government funds spent toward programs, classes and other initiatives related to DEI and the teaching of critical race theory.

In its official reply, the Gainesville-based University of Florida, which has roughly 8,000 academics and 60,000 students, said it runs some 30 to 40 DEI schemes at a cost of more than $5 million per year…

Using Florida’s freedom of information laws, Rufo obtained internal files showing that the university spearheaded 1,018 separate DEI initiatives, focussed on recruitment, training, and even ‘affirming diverse identities.’ 

A complete inventory of DEI work listed hundreds of projects, covering everything from the ‘legacies of slavery and oppression’ to ‘decolonizing the curriculum’ and a ‘gender pronouns initiative.’

Yesterday, the University of Florida announced it was closing its main DEI office and eliminating those jobs in line with current state law.

The University of Florida announced it has closed the office of its Chief Diversity Officer in compliance with the Florida Board of Governors regulations, according to a memo from the institution.

“To comply with the Florida Board of Governor’s regulation 9.016 on prohibited expenditures, the University of Florida has closed the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer,” The UF memo reads…

In addition to closing the office of the Chief Diversity Officer, the University of Florida also “eliminated DEI positions and administrative appointments, and halted DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors” according to a statement from the university.

As a result of the changes, 13 full-time positions were eliminated, administrative appointments have ended for 15 members of faculty and $5M in funds will be reallocated, the university confirmed to CNN.

Thirteen jobs doesn’t sound like much compared to some universities. For instance, the University of Michigan has more than 500 positions, full or part time, devoted to DEI.

The University of Michigan continues to exponentially grow the number of staffers dedicated to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, with at least 241 paid employees now focused on DEI and payroll costs exceeding $30 million annually, according to an analysis conducted for The College Fix…

The number of positions at Michigan’s flagship university advancing DEI exceeds more than 500 when including those who work full-time or part-time on DEI and factoring in open and unfilled positions, as well as employees who serve as “DEI Unit Leads” and others who serve on dozens of DEI committees, Perry said.

I think over time we’re going to see schools in places like California struggling to do anything other than DEI while schools in Texas and Florida will still have a chance to focus on the actual content of degree programs.

The good news is that there’s not much evidence all of those DEI trainers actually accomplish much of anything. Most of it will roll off the backs of students with the exception of the progressive extremists who were probably already headed down this road before they got to college.