University of Florida Scraps DEI Apparatus
Jose Nino
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On March 1, 2024, the University of Florida announced its move to shut down its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office, in addition to eliminating “DEI positions and administrative appointments,” and terminating contracts with outside DEI vendors.
A university memo from Human Resources alluded to a Florida Board of Governors’ regulation on “prohibited expenditures” as the principal justification for this move.
The regulation was approved earlier in 2024. This regulation bans spending state or federal funds to push for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Thai regulation was enacted after a state law was approved in May 2023 that also prohibited DEI spending.
The memo from HR continued:
Under the direction of UF Human Resources, university employees whose positions were eliminated will receive UF’s standard twelve weeks of pay. These colleagues are allowed and encouraged to apply, between now and Friday, April 19, for expedited consideration for different positions currently posted with the university. UF HR will work to fast-track the interview process and provide an answer on all applications within the twelve-week window.
Additionally, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer will reallocate the approximately $5 million in funds — previously reported to Tallahassee for DEI expenses, including salaries and expenditures — into a faculty recruitment fund to be administered by the Office of the Provost.
Finally, the University of Florida is – and will always be – unwavering in our commitment to universal human dignity. As we educate students by thoughtfully engaging a wide range of ideas and views, we will continue to foster a community of trust and respect for every member of the Gator Nation. The University of Florida is an elite institution because of our incredible faculty who are committed to teaching, discovering, and serving.
This development came shortly after the College Fix launched an investigative report highlighted that the University of Florida has on its staff one administrator for every four undergraduate students, The DEI bureaucracy was quite costly as the report detailed below:
“The latest data shows that UF’s DEI initiatives consisted of the equivalent of 24 full-time employees. DEI initiatives cost the university $5.3 million, $3.3 million of which is state funded.”
Chief Diversity Officer Marsha McGriff made $300,000 annually as of November 2022, per public records. Talk about a well-paid parasite.
In 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the anti-DEI state law as part of a broader education reform package. The laws itself stipulates that taxpayer-funded institutions “may not expend any state or federal funds to promote, support, or maintain any programs or campus activities that … advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or promote or engage in political or social activism.”
Florida has turned into one of the most sane states in the nation. Its commitment to right-wing values has made it a bastion of reason during a time of widespread insanity. Unlike other red states with overly timid Republican governors, Florida has led the way in putting forward a model of rational statecraft that uses prudential state force to quell leftist influence.
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