UNC Board of Governors repeals DEI policy, embraces ‘principled neutrality’

UNC System President Peter Hans (Screengrab PBS NC/UNC Board of Governors)

The UNC Board of Governors voted Thursday to repeal the UNC System’s policy on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The motion was passed on a voice vote as part of the “consent agenda,” which included multiple action items. Two board members — Joel Ford and Sonja Phillips Nichols, who are both Black — asked to be recorded as having voted ‘no.’ Neither spoke publicly to explain their vote.

Prior to the action, UNC System President Peter Hans sought to frame the board’s action as advancing the cause of “neutrality.”

Hans said it is good for college students to encounter both liberal and conservative perspectives. But it is vital, he argued, that college administrators stay out of the fray altogether and leaving faculty and students free to grapple with competing ideas.

“Our public universities are here to serve everyone and ideally to challenge everyone. That’s the job,” Hans said. “Because we’re meant to host a wide range of ideas, concepts and theories, to be an intellectually rich forum for big and difficult questions, our public university’s must take a stance of principled neutrality on matters of political controversy.”

Hans said he has heard from students, parents, alumni, and legislators in coming to this decision.

Hans said it is troubling that higher education has forfeited the public’s confidence in recent years, in large part because of the perception that universities are overtly partisan.

“Higher education does not exist to settle the most difficult debates in our democracy. Our role is to host those debates, to inform them to make them richer and more constructive. That’s a vital responsibility, and we can’t fulfill it if our institutions are seen as partisan actors in one direction or another,” said Hans.

Hans told the Board of Governors that “principal neutrality” protects the academic freedom of faculty, and enhances the free speech rights of students to voice opinions and peacefully protest.

Board of Governors member Gene Davis said that while the board’s action does amend the university code as it relates to DEI, he does not view it as lessening the university system’s commitment to diversity and inclusion or equality and equity.

“As this measure expressly states, this is an opportunity for chancellors to double down on those programs that have worked in advancing the success of our students, which, from my perspective, is often the very programs that make all students feel more welcome and that make all students feel as though they belong,” offered Davis.

As a former equity and inclusion officer for Gaston County, board member Pearl-Burris Floyd said that she has learned that sometimes feeling uncomfortable helps one grow.

“I ask that today, when we make this decision, that the leaders in our campuses will not feel as though we’ve turned our backs on them. But we are allowing our educators to educate, to lead with confidence,” she said. “Even if it’s not called diversity, equity, and inclusion, we have a way to help people and make that path forward clearer for all people. And yes, we can improve.”

The duty to uphold DEI

While the action went ahead without voiced opposition inside UNC System office in Raleigh, where the board meeting was held, it did not go unopposed outside.

There, students from various UNC system universities held a press conference ahead of the vote calling on the board to keep DEI initiatives.

“The truth is that UNC has never stood with people of color, we’ve always had to stand for ourselves,” said Pragya Upreti, rising junior at UNC Chapel Hill during her speech. Upreti said she came to the rally because so much is at stake for her community.

“We’ve observed continuous and coordinated attacks on public education, and we have had enough. We know we have an obligation to ensure future generations of students feel protected and valued at this institution.”

Liv Barefoot, the president-elect of UNC Asheville’s student body, said she came to Raleigh because DEI initiatives have been important to her development as a student, particularly the Office of Multicultural Affairs at UNC Asheville.

Barefoot countered critics who say DEI initiatives are political and privilege certain communities, arguing that DEI amplifies and represents underrepresented and marginalized voices, not privileging students over others.

“You’re not privileging students over others, you’re amplifying and representing underrepresented and marginalized communities.”

Naila Din, a senator in the NC State student government and also the chair of the diversity inclusion outreach committee, said equity initiatives play an important role in ensuring that every student, regardless of their background, has access to educational resources and opportunities. Din said inclusion goes beyond mere representation. It fosters “the creation of a supportive and welcoming atmosphere where each student feels not only valued for actively and encouraged to contribute regardless of their race, religion, gender, and socioeconomic status.”

“Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are the foundations of our ever-growing student population, and it is our duty to uphold them,” Din said.

High school students from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics also joined the rally, expressing concern that eliminating the UNC System’s DEI policy could impact initiatives and programs at their school. NCSSM is one of 17 institutions within the system.

Many of the student comments echoed concerns voiced a day before the vote by North Carolina House Democrats, who warned that repealing the system’s commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion would be detrimental to attracting and retaining top talent in North Carolina.

Read UNC’s new equality policy here.

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