The College Fix

UW schools to assess DEI programs in response to audit

The University of Wisconsin system spent tens of millions of dollars on over 1,200 “diversity, equity, and inclusion” activities in recent years, a new legislative audit revealed.

Medical advocacy group Do No Harm and a Wisconsin state representative told The College Fix this ideology is diminishing the value of education and wasting taxpayer money.

The Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau reviewed Board of Regents meeting minutes, contacted all 14 UW institutions and 15 related organizations, analyzed expenditure and staffing data, and assessed compliance with recent policies to evaluate DEI activities and costs.

It found that “UW institutions listed a total of 1,263 activities for the period from January 2020 through April 2024,” the audit states. However, “none of the UW institutions centrally tracked the total amounts spent specifically to implement the activities.”

Moreover, the universities “spent $40.2 million on offices with job duties pertaining to [DEI]” during the fiscal year 2023-24.

They also spent $12.5 million in staffing costs for 170 positions with similar duties and an estimated $7.9 million on inclusion-focused plans. These amounts “cannot be summed,” as some “overlap multiple types of costs,” the audit states. 

These practices include “a professional development program to support the promotion and retention of diverse faculty,” special services for “underrepresented groups,” plans to include “[DEI] competencies in curricula,” and ​​efforts to “recruit and retain a more-diverse student body and workforce.”

The institutions will assess their programs in response to the findings, UW system President Jay Rothman stated in a letter included in the audit. 

“The UWs look forward to evaluating this work to assist in ensuring that as we continue to look forward, our student support programs reflect a responsible use of funding and lead to our ultimate and measurable performance outcomes of successfully educating, retaining and graduating students,” Rothman stated. 

Also in response to the audit, a University of Wisconsin-Madison spokesman told The Fix the school appreciates “the Legislative Audit Bureau’s efforts to understand our work to create an environment in which all members of our community are able to reach their full potential.”

“Responsible stewardship of taxpayer funding while pursuing this and all other goals is a key value at UW–Madison. We are committed to fostering a culture of continuous improvement and accountability, recognizing that there are areas in which we can improve,” the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Do No Harm Senior Fellow Tabia Lee told The Fix via email DEI is “watering down the knowledge, skills, and abilities of students across disciplines on college campuses.”

“It is unfortunate that content knowledge is being replaced with ideological knowledge that requires students to demonstrate an allegiance to discrimination, division, and unproven sociological constructs,” she said.

Lee encouraged Wisconsin residents who are concerned about their taxpayer dollars funding DEI initiatives to contact their legislators and demand that public universities return to “educating instead of indoctrinating.”

Similarly, Wisconsin State Rep. David Murphy told The Fix “DEI programs … are wasting students’ money,” adding that “there’s no return on investment.”

“We’re spending all this money on [DEI] and we’re getting nothing for it. It’s not improving the value of an education,” he said.

Murphy, who chairs the committee on colleges and universities, also said the efforts add a “layer of bureaucracy.”

Further, he told The Fix about some of the work that he and his fellow Republican lawmakers have undertaken to combat DEI despite resistance from the state’s Democrat governor.

One of the efforts included a constitutional amendment that he said prohibits state and local governments from discriminating upon the basis of race, sex, and gender for employment, scholarships, admissions and contracting.

“I think this would end a lot of the DEI-type programs that we now have in the state,” he said.

According to the Wisconsin State Constitution, a proposed amendment must pass the state assembly in two consecutive years to be placed on the general election ballot for voter consideration.

Because the measure successfully passed during the previous legislative session, it will be up for consideration again this year, Murphy said. If both chambers pass it again, voters will weigh in and make the final determination.

In 2023, the UW system agreed to cut large chunks of DEI programming in exchange for $800 million for infrastructure improvements and pay raises, The College Fix previously reported.

The deal also requires UW system campuses to refrain from adding new DEI positions through December 2026.

MORE: UW-Madison ousts chief diversity officer over financial concerns

IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Bascom Hall, the main administrative building on the campus of the University of Wisconsin Madison; EQRoy/Shutterstock

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