By Nick Binotti | WIREPOINTS
Several Ivy League schools have been put under a national microscope recently for applying the right to free speech inconsistently. These universities are giving some groups unwavering protection to protest, while shutting down other groups altogether. These inconsistencies have one common denominator: Higher education’s unwavering devotion to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
DEI’s focus on race, gender and is credited for much of the divisiveness on college campuses these days and Illinois’ university system is not immune. Look no further than the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) where Communication 9 goes as far as to tie faculty performance evaluations to professors’ commitment to DEI. We outlined problems with the university’s initiative here.
But what also deserves attention are the growing DEI bureaucracies and the significant financial costs associated with them. Illinois’ universities are building out big teams led by executives with big pay, the highest among them Sean Garrick, Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). His total compensation in 2023 is reported at $352,000, according to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
But he’s just the tip of the DEIceberg.
Top heavy DEI roles come at a big cost.
In a state with the most units of local government in the country, it should be no surprise that Illinois’ higher education system is fragmented. Each university has its own DEI bureaucracy and, within each bureaucracy, its own flavor of DEI leadership.
The result is an administrative hodgepodge that can make it difficult to track how pervasive DEI is embedded in each institution. Chief Executives, Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, Associate Vice Chancellors – the titles for DEI executives are nearly as diverse as the department themselves. And their total compensation is anywhere from Doris Houston’s $155,000 at Illinois State University to Garrick’s $352,000.
Keep in mind the names in the table below are only the top officials listed in the Illinois Higher Board of Education’s salary database. There are many, many more lower-level functionaries we’ll have to work to identify in future reporting.
Read more here.
Related: “Florida Eliminates Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives in Higher Education,” “COVID-19, equity/diversity are top priorities in Dist. 220 superintendent search,” “Barrington school district to hire director of equity, race and cultural diversity,” “District 220 expands equity initiatives,” and last, but certainly not least, “District 220’s private equity campaign”