{"id":2394697,"date":"2025-01-24T09:22:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T14:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-records-detail-hefty-higher-ed-dei-spending\/"},"modified":"2025-01-24T09:26:23","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T14:26:23","slug":"exclusive-records-detail-hefty-higher-ed-dei-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-records-detail-hefty-higher-ed-dei-spending\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Records Detail Hefty Higher Ed DEI Spending"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-records-detail-hefty-higher-ed-dei-spending%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2394697&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The University of California, Berkeley has reportedly allocated nearly $150,000 \u200dof National Science Foundation funding towards a \u2063program\u2064 focused on &#8220;justice-centered pedagogy,&#8221; which aims to educate students about climate change within it&#8217;s social context, reflecting a broader trend of investing \u200din diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Critics argue that\u2063 such expenditures represent a push to\u200d indoctrinate students in\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alan-joseph-bauer-for-the-people\/\" title=\"Alan Joseph Bauer: For the People?\">left-leaning ideologies<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Open\u200b The Books, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-viral-post-claims-the-infrastructure-bill-on-page-2385-contains-a-3-federal-property-tax\/\" title=\"FACT CHECK: Viral Post Claims The \u2018Infrastructure Bill On Page 2385\u2019 Contains A 3% Federal Property Tax\">government spending watchdog<\/a>, highlights a lack of openness \u2063regarding Berkeley&#8217;s \u200bDEI spending, noting that only a small fraction \u2062of its DEI-related employees are\u200b publicly accounted for, despite potential \u2062wider\u200d employment in this area. The report will\u2064 soon detail the financial commitments made by various\u2062 universities, showcasing how these DEI programs are funded and structured.<\/p>\n<p>At\u200d Georgia Tech,DEI programs integrated into the management and academia cost \u2062approximately $3.6 \u200cmillion,equivalent to the tuition for about 342 in-state students. However, the \u200buniversity announced a shift in\u200d strategy, planning to embed DEI\u200b principles more uniformly\u200d across\u200b campus rather than operate \u200bfrom a separate office. \u2063This restructuring comes amid political pressures and new legislative measures targeting DEI initiatives in Georgia, which seek to eliminate ideological requirements in admissions and hiring processes. <\/p>\n<p>both Berkeley and Georgia Tech illustrate the contentious nature and evolving landscape \u2064of DEI programs in higher education,\u2064 amid growing scrutiny from\u200b taxpayers and legislative \u200cbodies.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.berkeley.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">University of California, Berkeley,<\/a> perhaps to no one&rsquo;s surprise, spent nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usaspending.gov\/award\/ASST_NON_2222255_4900\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$150,000<\/a> of National Science Foundation funding on &ldquo;justice-centered pedagogy.&rdquo; Not familiar with justice-centered pedagogy? Well, it&rsquo;s the concept of delivering the opportunity for students to become &ldquo;transformative intellectuals&rdquo; &mdash; learning about &ldquo;both the science and social context surrounding the climate change issues impacting their communities,&rdquo; according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usaspending.gov\/award\/ASST_NON_2222255_4900\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">description<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/walsh-with-the-insane-equality-act-the-democrat-party-has-declared-total-war-on-reality\/\" title=\"WALSH: With The Insane \u2018Equality Act,\u2019 The Democrat Party Has Declared Total War On Reality\">federally funded program<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, more DEI dogma.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Battleground of Ideas<\/h2>\n<p>While the world may or may not need another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ces.uc.pt\/interact\/documents\/WP14_summmary_draft.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&ldquo;transformative intellectual,&rdquo;<\/a> there&rsquo;s no doubt taxpayers have spent a fortune on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives aiming to indoctrinate the next generation of leaders in Marxist theory and thought.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As President Donald Trump begins his second term fulfilling his pledge to dismantle the DEI state within the federal government, look for colleges and universities that have used tons of federal funds for such social reengineering programs to double down on DEI.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Although President Trump is going to draw this all down within the federal government, that still leaves the battleground of ideas in the states,&rdquo; said Christopher Neefus, communications director for<a href=\"https:\/\/www.openthebooks.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Open The Books <\/a>(OTB).&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The government-spending watchdog has done a deep dive into the DEI investments of some of the most renowned institutions of higher education in America. OTB plans to release a full 75-page report on a dozen schools next month. Part of that report examines the expenditures and revenues of UC Berkeley and Georgia Tech, details of which that have been provided exclusively to The Federalist for this story.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think that Americans should understand the DEI worldview is not just an Ivy League problem; it has penetrated across our best known universities, and these public universities owe transparency to the taxpayer,&rdquo; Neefus said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Othering and Belonging&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>OTB found Berkeley has been anything but transparent about just how much taxpayer money it is devoting to diversity, equity, and inclusion programming. The university did not turn over payroll data on departments, which OTB requested, so dozens, perhaps hundreds of employees could be uncounted. Just 13 staff (of a 35,500-employee workforce) with DEI titles are listed. UC Berkeley does note 109 people in its &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/belonging.berkeley.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Othering &amp; Belonging Institute,<\/a>&rdquo; with a mission of advancing &ldquo;groundbreaking approaches to transforming structural marginalization and inequality.&rdquo; The institute publishes an &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/belonging.berkeley.edu\/study-new-zealand-and-hawaii-maintain-top-spots-us-and-california-dip-othering-and-belonging\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Inclusiveness Index,&rdquo;<\/a> which ranks the United States as the 79th most inclusive country in the world &mdash; thanks in large part to America&rsquo;s insistence on incarcerating criminals.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>DEI staff members at Berkeley make a very comfortable living. Dania Matos, vice chancellor of the woke department, hauled in an annual salary of nearly $350,000, according to Open The Books&rsquo; review of 2024 salaries, the most recent data available. <a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.berkeley.edu\/news-media\/school-news\/che-abram-named-chief-of-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-belonging\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Che Abram<\/a>, Chief of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, pulled down $152,206.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/hr.berkeley.edu\/people\/britt-mcclintock-shethey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Britt McClintock<\/a>&nbsp; a &ldquo;diversity, equity, and inclusion educator, consultant, and strategist as well as an Ethnic Studies high school educator,&rdquo; made $122,600 last year.&nbsp; According to her bio, McClintock is a creator of &ldquo;curriculums and training surrounding BIPOC and LGBTQ2+ inclusion and equity in collegiate programming.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>Underscoring the difficulty of tracking Berkeley&rsquo;s total DEI payroll, OTB found that the <a href=\"https:\/\/haas.berkeley.edu\/diversity\/get-involved\/contacts-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">head of the DEI team<\/a>, Elida Bautista, Chief Diversity, Equity &amp; Inclusion Officer, is listed as &ldquo;Acad Prg Mgt Ofcr 5&rdquo; and not counted among the 13 DEI employees noted in the university&rsquo;s payroll records. There are many others like Bautista.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Subsidizing DEI&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<p>UC Berkeley handed out nearly $400,000 last year to DEI-related activist organizations, according to vendor spending records obtained by OTB. Recipients included the Chicago-based <a href=\"https:\/\/www.center4racialjustice.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Workers Center for Racial Justice<\/a>, a &ldquo;grassroots organization fighting for Black Liberation and for a fair and inclusive society&rdquo; that pocketed $58,083. Buffalo, N.Y.-based <a href=\"https:\/\/surjed.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Showing Up for Racial Justice Education,<\/a> which &ldquo;works to undermine white supremacy and move white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice,&rdquo; collected $81,125.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Berkeley also had cash &mdash; nearly $124,000 &mdash; for Oakland-based&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/justiceoutside.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Justice Outside<\/a>, which &ldquo;advances racial justice and equity in the outdoor and environmental movement,&rdquo; and for fellow socialist Oakland group,&nbsp;the <a href=\"https:\/\/equaljusticesociety.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Equal Justice Society<\/a>&nbsp; ($37,625), which strives to broaden &ldquo;conceptions of present-day discrimination to include unconscious and structural bias.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>A UC Berkeley official directed The Federalist&rsquo;s request for comment to the University of California Office of the President.<\/p>\n<h2>DEI Does Pay<\/h2>\n<p>At the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), one of the nation&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">top public research universities<\/a>, DEI has been woven into academics and administration. The institution&rsquo;s 2023 payroll reflected as much.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to Open The Books, Georgia Tech&rsquo;s payrolls show 42 people worked in DEI roles that year, at a total cost of $3.6 million. That&rsquo;s equivalent to <a href=\"https:\/\/finaid.gatech.edu\/costs\/undergraduate-costs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tuition and fees for 342 in-state students<\/a>, OTB notes. Of the 42 DEI staffers, 29 worked in the office of the Vice President for DEI. The highest paid was Alexis Martinez, an executive director who pulled down $183,219 in 2023. Diley Hernandez, a senior academic professional, made $159,250, according to the payroll records, and S. Gordon Moore, another executive director, recorded a salary of $145,939.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>DEI does pay.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>In 2023, Georgia Tech announced it would restructure its DEI machine, choosing instead to infuse the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion into the full campus bloodstream as opposed to operating a separate, central office. As OTB tracked, the office of the Vice President of DEI was discontinued when director Archie Ervin retired at the end of December. Ervin was the highest paid DEI official on campus, with a salary of $283,085.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;By weaving these programs into the fabric of the Institute, we will be more effective at increasing representation and building a more inclusive culture,&rdquo; University President &Aacute;ngel Cabrera <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/18\/new-approach-diversity-equity-and-inclusion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said in October 2023<\/a>. &ldquo;Rather than having programs concentrated in one separate office, we will empower the units closest to the work that can have a more direct impact in the life of the Institute.&rdquo;&nbsp; Curiously, after The Federalist reached out to Georgia Tech officials about the status of DEI programs and the restructuring the October 2023 press release seemed to disappear.&nbsp; Thankfully, OTB has a <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20240816155314\/https:\/news.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/18\/new-approach-diversity-equity-and-inclusion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">web archive copy<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Begin Discontinuing DEI&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>It&rsquo;s difficult to determine current DEI payroll post- &ldquo;embedding.&rdquo; In an email to The Federalist, Georgia Tech spokeswoman Abbigail Tumpey said the institution made the decision in 2023 to &ldquo;begin discontinuing DEI programs, which included eliminating positions and realigning funding.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Understandable, the Republican-led state legislature has introduced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.11alive.com\/article\/news\/education\/georgia-anti-dei-efforts\/85-6061c043-e2ed-4ee1-844c-a13925bb1816\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">several bills<\/a> aimed at removing divisive DEI elements from Georgia&rsquo;s schools. Last month, the University System of Georgia Board of Regents recommended the elimination of mandatory DEI statements &mdash; or leftist litmus tests &mdash; as a qualification for student admissions and employee hiring.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;All admissions processes and decisions shall be free of ideological tests, affirmations, and oaths, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/university-system-of-georgia-to-ban-dei-commit-to-neutrality-teach-constitution-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"University System of Georgia to ban DEI, commit to neutrality, teach Constitution - Washington Examiner\">including diversity statements<\/a>. No applicant for admission shall be asked to or required to affirmatively ascribe to or opine about political beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles, as a condition for admission,&rdquo; the revision <a href=\"https:\/\/www.campusreform.org\/article\/university-system-georgia-curbs-dei-adopts-institutional-neutrality-strengthens-first-amendment-rights-new-changes-\/26829\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">states<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Georgia Tech has a robust financial relationship with the federal government &mdash; and the taxpayers who fund it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Since 2020 the university has garnered more than $4.5 billion in federal funding from grants and contracts, $2.8 billion in contracts, according to OTB&rsquo;s review.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;As a critical research partner for the federal government, Georgia Tech will ensure compliance with all federal and state rules as well as policies set by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia to continue accelerating American innovation and competitiveness,&rdquo; Tumpey said.<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Reflect our Values&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>The far-left Biden administration was all in on the DEI agenda. On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2021\/01\/25\/2021-01753\/advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">executive order<\/a> declaring that &ldquo;equity&rdquo; is &ldquo;the responsibility of the whole government.&rdquo; He then directed <a href=\"https:\/\/edworkforce.house.gov\/news\/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=412101\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">massive amounts of money<\/a> infusing DEI into every aspect of the federal government.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There&rsquo;s a new sheriff in town. On Day 1, President Trump issued a multipart <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">executive order<\/a> &ldquo;Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.&rdquo; Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/dei-trump-executive-order-diversity-834a241a60ee92722ef2443b62572540\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ordered<\/a> all staff involved with the programs to be placed on administrative leave en route to being laid off. The federal DEI gravy train is about to dry up. It remains to be seen whether his administration will attempt to claw back &ldquo;illegal&rdquo; DEI funds sent to states, including public colleges and universities. The White House did not return The Federalist&rsquo;s request for comment. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The leftist resistance movement is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2025\/01\/23\/metro\/trump-dei-universities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">raising the alarms<\/a> to rally around DEI.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The University of California is aware of the recent Executive Order issued by President Trump and is assessing its potential impact on our communities,&rdquo; Stett Holbrook, spokesman for the University of California Office of the President, said in an email response to The Federalist. &ldquo;While there is uncertainty and anxiety among many, UC will continue to uphold and advocate for policies and programs that reflect our values, support our mission, and benefit our students, faculty, staff, and the broader communities we serve.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Open the Books&rsquo; Neefus said even if all of the DEI spending dried up overnight, the diversity, equity, inclusion orthodoxy is deeply embedded in American college life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s still shaping the intellectual canon and will have a lasting impact,&rdquo; he said. That&rsquo;s why transparency remains so critical for taxpayers, Neefus added.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UC Berkeley spent nearly $150,000 on &#8220;justice-centered pedagogy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":656,"featured_media":2394698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-4.02.35-PM-1024x523.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[49137,39619,49138,33643,49136],"class_list":["post-2394697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dei-spending","tag-diversity-initiatives","tag-education-budget","tag-financial-transparency","tag-higher-ed"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-4.02.35-PM-1024x523.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2394697"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2394701,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394697\/revisions\/2394701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2394698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2394697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2394697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2394697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}