DEI Wars?

by | Dec 7, 2023 | Higher Education | 163 comments

The Board of Regents of the state of Iowa, which oversees the state-run universities Iowa State University, Northern Iowa University, and the University of Iowa, recently passed a number of recommendations to be followed by the schools under their control. Their report was required by Senate Bill 560, which as part of the appropriation process, required the Board of Regents “to conduct a study and prepare a report related to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and programs.” The recommendations from their report:

  1. Functions that are not necessary for compliance or accreditation. Support services in these offices must be broadly available to all students and/or employees, subject to applicable state or federal eligibility requirements.
  2. Review all college, department or unit-level DEI positions to determine whether DEI-specific job responsibilities are necessary for compliance, accreditation or student and employee support services. Any position responsibilities that are not necessary for these purposes shall be adjusted or eliminated. Position and/or working titles shall be reviewed to ensure they appropriately reflect position responsibilities.
  3. Review the services provided by offices currently supporting diversity or multicultural affairs in other divisions of the university to ensure they are available to all students, subject to applicable state or federal eligibility requirements. Program promotional and informational materials and websites shall be updated to clarify that the mission of these offices is to support success broadly.
  4. Take reasonable steps to assure the following:
    1. No employee, student, applicant or campus visitor is required to submit a DEI statement or be evaluated based on participation in DEI initiatives, unless the position is required for DEI-related compliance or accreditation.
    2. No employee, student, applicant or campus visitor is compelled to disclose their pronouns.
  5. Develop a board policy prohibiting the consideration of race and other protected class characteristics in admissions that is consistent with the law.
  6. Initiate a review of DEI-related general education categories and update category names to accurately reflect the array of options students may select from to satisfy these requirements and ensure a breadth of offerings.
  7. Standardize issuance of annual employee guidance regarding the separation of personal political advocacy from university business and employment activities.
  8. Explore potential recruitment strategies for advancing diversity of intellectual and philosophical perspective in faculty and staff applicant pools.
  9. Develop a proposal, including cost, to establish a widespread initiative that includes opportunities for education and research on free speech and civic education.
  10. Annually, the board office shall issue a reminder to the universities on the requirements of 4.2.I, which governs university websites and other university communications.

Of particular note, these recommendations appear to be an attempt to cut back on the proliferation and scope of DEI-related jobs (points 1 and 2), make DEI jobs less about particular classes of people and more answerable to all (point 3), put a stop to the idea that everything requires a DEI component (point 4), curtail the pronoun wars (point 4), eliminate race- or class-based hiring (point 5), and promote diversity that goes beyond only race or ethnicity (point 8).

While some might label this mere window-dressing, I think the report represents a clear departure from the usual DEI statements at most universities. After all, the law that required the report was passed by the Iowa legislature, which is Republican-controlled and one of the more conservative law-making bodies in the country. Republican legislators have called out the state universities for the cost of their DEI programs. A bill that would have required the universities to disband their DEI programs was also discussed, but ultimately did not pass.

Of course there were some dissents. Two Regents questioned the necessity of the eighth recommendation, one saying that she felt that it was” a redundant aspect to put in there, because if everybody’s following the above policies and with affirmative action, I just question whether that’s needed.” [Like affirmative action assured intellectual diversity.] She also said “I just don’t believe that I can support [recommendation 1]  because it goes against a lot of the student comments and [what] a lot of people have come [to] me talking about.” A UNI student said that the elimination of DEI services would worsen the “brain drain” from the state.

In any event, at least in this part of flyover country, there is some push-back to the DEI juggernaut.

A meme I made to emphasize that the standard woke DEI is not really diverse if they all think the same:

About The Author

whiz

whiz

Whiz is a recently retired college professor who now has time for excursions like this one.

163 Comments

  1. The Late P Brooks

    I don’t have today’s code book. I look at that and see typical opaque academic-speak. I will gladly accept your interpretation.

    In a perfect world, none of this would be necessary.

  2. The Late P Brooks

    If I were still doing t-shirts, I would absolutely be making one with a big “not equal” symbol on it.

  3. B.P.

    Stomping out DEI statements would be a good start; no loyalty oaths.

    • rhywun

      This. It’s sickening. We are not the Soviet fucking Union.

      • Suthenboy

        Mid-Obama I kept ranting that the left here wanted desperately to turn us into the USSR. I was told I was crazy. Over the top they said. Beyond the pale they said. Shut up they explained.
        People were still thinking it cant happen here. It was too preposterous and frightening to entertain such ideas. Obama is not a communist, no, that cant be true.
        And yet….here we are.
        I cant hang it all on Obama. Look at Jimmy Fuckin’ Carter. That son of a bitch.

      • Suthenboy

        It goes back further than that. Wilson, Roosevelt, Roosevelt, Johnson, Clinton….progressive democrats all.
        Starting with Wilson they were all sympathetic to totalitarians and despised our constitution. They saw the constitution for what it is, a limit on their power. I think the first Roosevelt described it as an obstacle to his parties ends.

        I dont remember who posted this quote fairly recently but it is worth posting again.
        “Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race. All through history, mankind has been bullied by scum. Those who lord it over their fellows and toss commands in every direction and would boss the grass in the meadow about which way to bend in the wind are the most depraved kind of prostitutes. They will submit to any indignity, perform any vile act, do anything to achieve power. The worst off-sloughings of the planet are the ingredients of sovereignty. Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy the whores are us.”
        — PJ O’Rourke

      • Raven Nation

        “Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race.”

        I would suggest that one reason for this is that people who crave authority are often not leaders. I try to explain the difference between leadership and authority and it’s hard for people to follow.

      • Suthenboy

        Laying around somewhere on my hard drive is a half-written article on idiocy; on how most people confuse similar yet very different concepts and the folly that leads to.

        Culture and race
        Respect and fear
        Accreditation and competence
        Intelligence and wisdom
        Yes, and leadership and authority
        There are others but I had not enumerated them yet, thus the stalled article. Suggestions anyone?

      • R.J.

        Finish the first piece, post it, then never do the second piece. That’s what I do.

      • Timeloose

        Freedom Vs Liberty?

      • R C Dean

        Malice v incompetence.

      • Suthenboy

        Yeah, I know. My wife keeps telling me to quit being such a procrastinator. I tell her I will, I am just waiting for the right time.

      • creech

        The vast majority would still call you crazy if you said some prominent pols were endorsing or advocating communism. However, call someone a fascist and you’d be welcomed on TV by some of the “best” people.

      • Ted S.

        To be fair, a lot of today’s government *is* fascist, just not in the “things I don’t like” sense in which it’s commonly misused.

      • R C Dean

        The New Deal was built on the (Italian) fascist model, and it was no accident.

      • Ted S.

        Cole Porter’s original lyrics for “You’re the Tops” compares the “you” person favorably with Mussolini.

      • Suthenboy

        I call people fascist all of the time. Biden for instance and also the FedGov in general. Why haven’t I been invited to the cocktail parties yet?

  4. Nephilium

    Interestingly enough, we’ve got a bill running through the Ohio legislature that’s being accused of trying to make college campuses “conservative” that’s targeting DEI.

    Contentious higher education bill targeting DEI clears Ohio House committee hurdle

    If passed by the full House, the law would prohibit colleges from establishing mandatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, allow tenured professors to be fired, and prevent professors from taking stances in the classroom on controversial topics.

    • B.P.

      “…and prevent professors from taking stances in the classroom on controversial topics.”

      I find this hard to believe, but they didn’t link to the bill text.

      • Nephilium

        Here you go… all 66 pages of it.

      • B.P.

        As I suspected. “Controversial belief or policy” is defined on page 25. Here is where it is used:

        “(B) Not later than ninety days after the effective date of
        this section, the board of trustees of each state institution of
        higher education shall adopt and enforce a policy that requires
        the institution to do all of the following:

        4) Affirm and declare that faculty and staff shall allow
        and encourage students to reach their own conclusions about all
        controversial beliefs or policies and shall not seek to
        indoctrinate any social, political, or religious point of view;

        6) Declare that it will not endorse or oppose, as an
        institution, any controversial belief or policy, except on
        matters that directly impact the institution’s funding or
        mission of discovery, improvement, and dissemination of knowledge. The institution may also endorse the congress of the
        United States when it establishes a state of armed hostility
        against a foreign power.

        (7) Affirm and declare that the institution will not
        encourage, discourage, require, or forbid students, faculty, or
        administrators to endorse, assent to, or publicly express a
        given ideology, political stance, or view of a social policy,
        nor will the institution require students to do any of those
        things to obtain an undergraduate or post-graduate degree;”

        Pages 25-30 are mostly about open inquiry and diversity of viewpoint, not silencing professors so far as I can see.

      • Nephilium

        shall not seek to indoctrinate any social, political, or religious point of view;

        I think this is where the issue is, because that’s wide open enough that I could do lots of damage arguing it from all sides.

      • B.P.

        Eh, fair.

      • kinnath

        If this blocks catholic schools from promoting catholicism (ditto for protestant schools), then the law is shit.

      • Raven Nation

        Yeah, indoctrinate is in the eye of the beholder. I could see that triggering all kinds of lawsuits against classroom content.

      • Spartacus

        College is way too late to start indoctrination. You have to start them when they’re small, like this.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Can I advocate for the genocide of all (((of them))) or not? I ain’t got time to read all that!

      • creech

        Can I still say “gay” in Iowa?

      • whiz

        Maybe in the privacy of your own home 🙂

      • Sean

        Whatever happens in the cornfield, stays in the cornfield.

      • Ownbestenemy

        *Government quickly mandates a IOT device in every home that under penalty of the law, cannot disconnect, block, or otherwise interfere with*

      • Pope Jimbo

        AIDS = Another Iowan Discovers Sex

      • kinnath

        1976. Old news.

    • whiz

      That’s a mixed bag.

    • whiz

      But it’s nice to see other places fighting against DEI.

      • Nephilium

        Just serendipity with timing as that bill just passed the Senate this week, so the headlines about it were still fresh in my head (including the point about the “brain drain”).

      • Lackadaisical

        “brain drain”

        Why, are liberal professors afraid of losing their jobs?

  5. Suthenboy

    “Here, let me help you refine that.”
    *takes all DEI texts, manuals, instructions, rules, stats, applications requiring race, gender pronouns etc. and tosses them into a dumpster. Tosses in a lit match.*
    “There, see? Nuthin’ to it. No need to thank me. Oh, and this also…*turns to staff related to DEI*…You are fired.”

    • whiz

      At least Point 2 is likely to lead to some positions being removed.

      • Suthenboy

        I read that as ‘poison’ being removed. That works.

  6. The Late P Brooks

    A UNI student said that the elimination of DEI services would worsen the “brain drain” from the state.

    Intellectual refugees fleeing to Berkeley?

    • Nephilium

      The “brain drain” is the standard complaint against any legislative changes to the state universities. The same phrase has been used to say what will happen if the Ohio bill passes.

      • Raven Nation

        One of the major problems (as most people here will realize) is that the bubble within which most academics live is far more hermetically sealed than most bubbles. We’ve recently been interviewing for mid-level academic admin positions. A standard question from the audience (and part of some of the presentations) is, “given that we live in a red state where many politicians and members of the public are hostile to higher education, how would you deal with that.”

        There is zero ability to understand that blunt criticism of the politicization of higher education is NOT the same as hostility to higher education.

      • Nephilium

        /thinks back to Bastiat

        My general appearance, clothing preferences, music preferences, and subcultures I belong to means that I’m generally assumed to be a standard progressive. I’ve gobsmacked some people when they find out that I’m divergent. One young black girl couldn’t understand why I wasn’t voting for Obama, actually saying to me, “But you’re not a racist!”

      • ron73440

        saying to me, “But you’re not a racist!”

        “Correct, but he is.”

      • Raven Nation

        Hah! You should see some of the looks when people find out I’m not progressive and/or don’t vote the standard Team Blue line. The looks when they get that far and find out I don’t vote Team Red either are on a whole other level.

      • Fourscore

        Neither team complains about spending non-existent money.

      • UnCivilServant

        If it drains away the rotted gray matter of the DEI Proggies, No big loss.

    • whiz

      OTOH, it might led to some coming here to avoid DEI crap somewhere else — I’m looking at you, Minnesoda.

      • Fourscore

        At least it won’t be a brain drain, judging from the schools

    • Pope Jimbo

      Minnesoda. After all we are The Brainpower State

      A new highway sign proclaiming Minnesota “the brainpower state” insults tourists, the Senate majority leader said.
      “It’s as if we said to them: ‘Welcome to Minnesota. Too bad you’re not smart enough to live here,’ ” Roger Moe said last week in a letter to Gov. Rudy Perpich.

      Transportation Commissioner Len Levine said only one sign, on Interstate 94 near Hudson, Wis., has the slogan. It was added about three weeks ago to the Minnesota-shaped welcome sign, which also contains the traditional reference to Minnesota as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” Levine said.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Explore potential recruitment strategies for advancing diversity of intellectual and philosophical perspective in faculty and staff applicant pools.

    Hire capitalists to teach in the business school?

  8. The Late P Brooks

    From Juris’ post, last night:

    When the anarchist, as the mouthpiece of the decaying strata of society, raises his voice in splendid indignation for “right,” “justice,” “equal rights,” he is only groaning under the burden of his ignorance, which cannot understand why he actually suffers,—what his poverty consists of—the poverty of life.

    Nothing is new. Whining children should be told, forcefully and often, “Life is not fair.”

    • Nephilium

      No. They should be told, in all earnestness:

      I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be much worse if life *were* fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them?’ So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.

      –Marcus Cole, Babylon 5

  9. The Late P Brooks

    OTOH, it might led to some coming here to avoid DEI crap somewhere else — I’m looking at you, Minnesoda.

    We don’t want that kind of diversity!

  10. The Late P Brooks

    A standard question from the audience (and part of some of the presentations) is, “given that we live in a red state where many politicians and members of the public are hostile to higher education, how would you deal with that.”

    In other words, they hate you right back.

    • Suthenboy

      “Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.”
      ― Frederic Bastiat, The Law

      Which of course makes me think of this quote “The only thing new under the sun is what is new to. you.” – Socrates (?)

  11. ron73440

    DEI is one of the most hateful things foisted on us.

    Every time I have my mandatory DEI training, I definitely fail at being Stoic.

    I almost have a physical pain when I am forced into it.

    We only had one year with a DEI consultant over a zoom call.

    After that it was scenario based and my answers were always put in the “Need to do better” category.

    • UnCivilServant

      “This DEI initiative is creating a hostile work environment, I need an accommodation where you keep this nonsense away from me and let me work.”

      • kinnath

        I need to find reprints of posters from my formative years and put them up at work.

        I wonder how much trouble I would get into for a poster promoting “We All Cast the Same Color Shadow”.

      • UnCivilServant

        To be pedantic, the hue of the object casting said shadow could impact the ambient light color and change the color of the shadow.

        Ergo, we do not all case the same color shadow.

      • R C Dean

        My nomination for “Well, ackchually” of the year.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Mine was a zoom call this year “Building Belonging Together.”

    • R.J.

      Us too. It came on strong at first, we got heavily exposed to it. I don’t think the response was good. The emails and events have dwindled down seriously since the last year. I am at work to work, not have a social hour and discuss justice issues. That has no bearing on making a call center AHT go down by ten seconds, or improving claims time of service.

      • Nephilium

        You mean call centers don’t care more about DIE than about AHT and service level? What kind of racist call centers are you working in?

      • Ted S.

        Don’t you know how racist dot Indians are?

  12. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    That’s some good memeage

    • whiz

      Thank you!

  13. The Late P Brooks

    Diversity and exclusion

    The Food and Drug Administration has spent years developing the plan to eliminate menthol, estimating it could prevent 300,000 to 650,000 smoking deaths over several decades. Most of those preventable deaths would be among Black Americans, who disproportionately smoke menthols.

    Previous FDA efforts on menthol have been derailed by tobacco industry pushback or competing political priorities across several administrations. The latest delay comes amid lingering worries from some Democrats about President Joe Biden’s prospects in a rematch against Donald Trump.

    Competing political priorities like a backlash against your paternalistic plantation, on the part of black people?

    • The Other Kevin

      “Most of those preventable deaths would be among Black Americans, who disproportionately smoke menthols.”
      Just cut to the chase and ban black people from smoking.

    • R C Dean

      So how is it that nobody has pointed out that the FDA is trying to ban something because black people like it?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Same reason no one pointed out that ALL the presidents of the fancy colleges who had to testify to Congress recently were women?

        If they had all been men, you know a bunch of whiners would have pointed to that as PROOF of sexism.

      • rhywun

        I did find that noticeable.

        Cornell’s president – who didn’t make the cut for whatever reason – is also a birthing person.

        What are the odds?!

  14. kinnath

    The world’s color authority has declared that we need to be comforted. And there’s only one hue that’ll provide a sufficient level of coziness and warmth.

    Enter Peach Fuzz, Pantone’s 2024 color of the year.

    Given the common meaning of the peach emoji, this is a daring choice.

    • Pine_Tree

      OK, I’ll bite. What is the common meaning of the peach emoji?

      • Sean

        🍆💦🍑

      • Ownbestenemy

        I laugh at the emoji but often ponder how delicate people in the real world cannot handle social interactions but can toss those three things about with no self-awareness. I actually find those more offensive than a creepy asshole at a bar trying to hit on ladies.

    • The Other Kevin

      I thought peach and mauve went out at the end of the 80’s.

      • Lackadaisical

        everything old is new again

  15. kinnath

    Thanks Whiz. I don’t always keep track of what the legislature is doing. Good to see the Repubs are pushing back on the universities.

    • R.J.

      I just hate that it must be done. I personally do not see a way around it.

      • kinnath

        In one of my hobbies, we have a rule book for certain activities. The first rule is “Don’t make us make a rule”.

        This is what happens when the universities break the first rule.

      • R C Dean

        Ding ding. They wanted a lot of rope, but forgot the second part of the saying.

      • Lackadaisical

        ‘certain activities.’
        🍆💦🍑

      • kinnath

        I have no experience with group activities of that nature.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    A Nov. 20 meeting included civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Kendrick Meek, a former congressman who is now a lobbyist with a law firm whose clients include the tobacco company Reynolds American. More than two dozen government officials also attended the virtual meeting, including Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

    The meeting was requested by the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, which has received funding from cigarette-makers, including Reynolds. The group has been running ads in local Washington media warning that a menthol ban would damage relations between police and the communities they serve.

    The FDA and health advocates have long rejected such concerns, noting FDA’s enforcement of the rule would only apply to companies that make or sell cigarettes, not to individual smokers.

    Except for that pesky little part about individual smokers’ preferred option being taken off the shelves. But they’re stupid and nobody important cares what they think.

    It’s all a plot between Trump and the tobacco companies to genocide black people.

    • Ownbestenemy

      rule would only apply to companies that make or sell cigarettes, not to individual smokers

      -1000 loosies

  17. Ownbestenemy

    From Biden’s EO and Mayor Pete’s DEI ‘Stategic plan’ for the Department of Transportation…

    this initiative will advance opportunity for all underserved communities as defined by the EO to include people of color, such as Black and African American, Hispanic and Latino, Native American, Alaska Native and Indigenous, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, and North African persons; Individuals who belong to communities that face discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity (including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, gender non-conforming, and non-binary (LGBTQI+) individuals); individuals who face discrimination based on pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions; parents and caregivers; individuals who belong to communities that face discrimination based on their religion; individuals with disabilities; first-generation professionals or first-generation college students; and individuals with limited English proficiency.

    My sex, sexual preference and skin color are no where to be found in what they claim to be diverse, inclusive or ‘equitable’

    • ron73440

      Same, at my company they love to tell us “We need more diversity in management.”

      My boss said he asked the owner why he was the only black manager.

      Keep in mind, we are a government contractor and are over represented with “diversity”.

      There are 5 managers and 4 are white, but 2 of those are female.

      I lost respect for him as he was telling me this story.

      • rhywun

        The last five or six decades have been an exercise in tribalistic “I’ll get mine”. I hope everyone is proud.

      • Fourscore

        Some time, about 50 years ago or so the military decided it had to get on board, cutting edge. Mind you, racial discrimination was already against the rules and the military was doing a fair job of being fair.

        Then it was decided we had to be integrated, gender wise. It was with great difficulty that the lady soldiers had to climb communication poles, string field wire and pull KP with big bags of potatoes. Going to the field was a chore and a half, had to have separate shower times/latrine facilities. It was challenging for both the women and the men at the time. Probably some of that has been overcome by technology.

        At that time gays were still in the closet, I think Bill Clinton started opening the door with “Don’t ask, don’t tell”. I’d already left so I’m not sure how that worked out.

    • The Other Kevin

      Besides adding some ramps for the disabled folks, how the hell does transportation vary for any of those other people? “I was going to take the train but my LGBTQ status prevented me.”

      • Nephilium

        Well, there are some neighborhoods where a person of pallor (such as myself) don’t want to go. Unfortunately, there’s a handful of neighborhoods that still exist in the area that I would recommend that people who fail the paper bag test shouldn’t go to.

      • rhywun

        Classic Orwellian ducktalk.

        Piles of words that issue forth automatically and signify nothing.

      • Aloysious

        Wheels must be racist.

    • Suthenboy

      Advance opportunities? What opportunities? Advance in what way?
      What the fuck are they talking about? They want a bigger budget to do nothing.

      “Piles of words that issue forth automatically and signify nothing.” <—This

  18. The Late P Brooks

    this initiative will advance opportunity for all underserved communities as defined by the EO to include… blah blah blah

    “Underserved” is entirely appropriate here. As we all know, “employers” exist for the sole purpose of distributing paychecks.

    • R C Dean

      “Underserved” is just too close to “undeserved” for comfort.

  19. Sean

    DEI has nothing to do with my day to day life. I’m still glad to see attempts to rein it in.

  20. Don escaped Texas

    I can’t get past original sin: big government. Public education is stupid because it’s government, which is just a battleground over who will steal my money and what evil purposes it will be used for.

    There’s nothing wrong with the newsworthy OP, the attached commentary, or the opinions above, but there no correct way to do public education; a discussion of form is moot, just expressions of preference that should be made in the private sector with money to shape a market that will solve all this.

    If Republicans want to impress me, they should stop rearranging the deckchairs of public education and do the main thing they always flap their gums about: reduce the size of government. But they are clowns and just want the issue, and they want to lord over these bureaucracies and extort my dollars, just in the correct way. I call bullshit.

    • kinnath

      perfect

      enemy

      good

      or something along those lines.

    • R.J.

      Yes. Hence why I hate the choice they made. Make more laws? How about defund all that jazz instead. If a private college wants to shove DIE up the butt of every student, that is what they are paying for. Go for it. Public institutions just don’t get money if they go against policies to increase liberty, or even better, just shut off all the taps to everyone and let the private sector work it out. No way DIE comes out on top of private sector funds it. It produces useless employees.

  21. R C Dean

    The University of Arizona has bumbled into a financial crisis. Allofasudden, they are looking at a 9 figure shortfall, which they blame on their financial model not accounting for increased expenses (but totally not that spending spree they have been on for the last few years). The finger-pointing is absolutely epic, but one thing that popped out at me was the college faculty pointing out that central administration staffing has gone up over 60% in the last 10 years, while at the college level their administrative staff has gone up “only” 30%.

    I’m pretty sure enrollment is basically flat at the UofA over the last ten years. Why a university needs administrative staff at a level that, on a per-student basis, is almost equivalent to pre-school daycare, I have no clue. But I expect a pretty good chunk of the bloat is DEI staff (at all levels).

    Naturally, nobody is talking with any specifics about how they are going to get spending under control. I suspect they are all hoping for a handout from the legislature. The AZ legislature, albeit controlled by Republicans, has a great many squishes, so that may not be a bad bet. With any luck, though, the herd of administrators will get culled, and DEI will run into a fiscal wall.

    • whiz

      I don’t have hard numbers, but I’m sure that a great part of the increased cost of higher education is due to more administrators. And, sadly, some of it has to do with compliance with various laws, so you just can’t get rid of them without running into legal troubles.

      Another batch of administrators are tasked with recruitment and retention, which seems to be emphasized way more than, say, years ago. I’m not sure that would go away if universities were all private or if laws are repealed since it is a symptom of competition.

      • Raven Nation

        This.

        Universities also hire people to monitor compliance at ranks (e.g. assistant vice-chancellor) that requires inflated salaries. We have a Senior Compliance officer (~$150k), Senior Associate Athletic Director of Compliance ($80k), Title IX Coordinator (~$100k), Title IX Investigator ($81k).

        We also have a vice-chancellor of student success who makes north of $350k a year. Her responsibility includes retention & recruitment. That, is not, apparently going well. So the solution is to get rid of faculty (whose responsibilities do NOT include recruitment & retention).

      • R C Dean

        How much of that compliance is with actual laws, and how much is with policies? In my experience, “compliance” includes both.

        In any event, I seriously doubt that admin staff needed to grow by 30 – 60% for “compliance”. I managed a 3 – 4 person compliance department for a hospital system with 4,000 employees and $800MM in revenue. And hospitals are highly, highly regulated.

      • UnCivilServant

        My statistics say : Actual Laws 3%, Policies 102%, Margin of error 4%”

      • Pine_Tree

        I can’t get my head around a school having anybody tasked with recruitment and retention. A top school should want to be a filter, not a pump. Having to recruit and then trying to keep the students there, instead of making it tough to stay, sounds completely bass-ackward to me.

        One of the sayings I collected on my “things the kids have to know” doc is: “If you have to tell somebody that you’re smart, pretty, or in-charge, then you’re not.” This is a lot like that.

    • Lackadaisical

      ‘ is almost equivalent to pre-school daycare,’

      At some schools the staffing is actually much higher. Most preschools only have 1 staff per 8-10 students. I thought at Harvard it is almost 1:1.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    A hairy diversity dilemma

    A Black high school student in Texas who was suspended for more than a month for wearing a natural hairstyle returned to regular classes this week after spending a month at an alternative school.

    The move, however, was short-lived. His family says he was suspended again for refusing to cut his locs to comply with the school’s dress code policy.

    Darryl George, 18, showed up for class Tuesday at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu (a town roughly 30 miles outside of Houston) before a school administrator said he was in violation of the dress code.

    ——-

    “We will continue to fight alongside the George Family and work with State Rep Bowers and Reynolds to amend the vague language that’s being exploited by Barbers Hill ISD to push their racial discrimination agenda towards our children,” the George family said in a statement sent to NPR.

    Allie Booker, an attorney for the George family, said she is working to get the suspensions stopped and Darryl back in his regular classes.

    Aside from the obvious question of “How is this a natural hairstyle?” I don’y get how this school thinks they have anything to gain from all this bullshit, other than pigheaded authoritarianism.

    Either let him go to class or throw the bum out.

    • R.J.

      Agreed. Big deal. Doesn’t look like it is touching his collar. So who cares? Isn’t that the only rule for men, or do we have balls-deep authoritarian bullshit now?

    • whiz

      Yes, I don’t see what the problem is. Maybe he should change to a mullet…

      • Fourscore

        /Remembers ’70s white kids hair style

    • Lackadaisical

      Looks super gay, but thats his right.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, my immediate reaction is “that is a chick ‘do”.

        Reading between the lines it seems like he was suspended for multiple infractions but everything is about RACE! now so everyone is going to focus on nAtUrAl hAiRsTyLe. I would bet good money that is not at all why he was suspended.

      • whiz

        Probably so, but why even bring up a questionable hairstyle requirement?

      • rhywun

        The school? Yeah, I dunno.

        I just suspect we’re not getting the full story.

    • R C Dean

      I wonder exactly what the rule he is supposed to have broken actually says.

      “ In a copy of George’s disciplinary notice obtained by NPR, the notice states that his hair is “out of compliance with the BH dress code when let down,”

      Ah, so they are penalizing him for a hairstyle that he doesn’t apparently actually have at school. Pricks.

      • Lackadaisical

        I’m open to the idea that we are also being presented half a story here… all the stories are using the same exact picture of the kid.

    • Suthenboy

      Bullshit made up story. A kerfuffle over hair at BARBER’S HILL HS? C’mon, they aren’t even trying.

      Looking at the hair I dont see what the problem is.

      • Suthenboy

        I know, I know, the problem is that he thinks he doesnt have to do as he is told by some arbitrary diktat.
        Follow the herd or else.

      • rhywun

        The story is full of holes. Plus it’s NPR. I don’t buy any of it.

  23. robc

    I have mentioned it before, but upon reading Rand I totally groked Atlas Shrugged and thought The Fountainhead was kind of weird.

    In the last decade or so, it has become clear that The Fountainhead was the more applicable novel. Not that AS still isn’t, just that I get The Fountainhead now.

    • Mojeaux

      I’ve always said The Fountainhead was the better novel, even though it was the proto-Atlas Shrugged.

      • R.J.

        Look at you and your fancy formatting.

      • Mojeaux

        *preens in ebook formatter*

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of actions without consequences

    The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it would forgive an additional $4.8 billion in student loan debt, for 80,300 borrowers.

    The relief is a result of the U.S. Department of Education’s fixes to its income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

    “Before President Biden took office, it was virtually impossible for eligible borrowers to access the student debt relief they rightfully earned,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “This level of debt relief is unparalleled and we have no intention of slowing down.”

    More than $2 billion of the aid will go to nearly 46,000 borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans. Those plans are supposed to lead to debt forgiveness after a set period, but this often didn’t happen because loan servicers failed to keep track of borrowers’ payments, experts say.

    In addition, 34,400 borrowers who have worked in public service for a decade or more will receive $2.6 billion in loan cancellation, the U.S. Department of Education said. Borrowers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program have also struggled to get the debt erasure they’ve been promised due to errors in their payment counts and other issues.

    The Biden administration has now cancelled nearly $132 billion in student debt for more than 3.6 million Americans.

    *Student Loan Fairy waves magic wand- poof!*

    • The Other Kevin

      The best way to combat inflation is to print a bunch of money and give it to a small group of people based on political considerations.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Another batch of administrators are tasked with recruitment and retention, which seems to be emphasized way more than, say, years ago.

    There are also stories about the “amenities gap” and profligate spending on non academic facilities to attract students. I have no idea how widespread or meaningful it really is.

    • R C Dean

      At the UofA, it was huge. They have spent tens or hundreds of millions on amenities, and the budget for actual academics is pretty much flat.

  26. Sean

    https://thetakeout.com/chipotle-burrito-bowl-thrown-at-worker-crime-punishment-1851078943

    While the Parma Municipal Court judge first sentenced the woman to 180 days in jail with 90 days suspended, he alternatively offered that the woman could suspend 60 additional days from the sentence if she worked 20 hours per week at a fast food restaurant for 60 days. This stint would have to be completed by the time she begins her jail sentence in March 2024. She agreed to the arrangement.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    So how is it that nobody has pointed out that the FDA is trying to ban something because black people like it?

    Per the story, only paid shills and pawns of Big Mentholated Genocide would ever say such a thing.

  28. grrizzly

    New street signs with Massachusett language translation will be installed in East Cambridge

    The signs, which will include both the English and Massachusett languages for First through Eighth Streets in East Cambridge, will be at every intersection of those numbered streets. The group of mostly volunteer Native scholars and city officials, including Carbone, will be looking at mock-ups of the sign next week in preparation for installation in the spring.

    According to Carbone, the translations will read “nekône taꝏmâôk,” for First Street, with the following ordinal numbers as “neese,” “neeshwe,” “yâwe,” “napanatashe,” “nequsuktashe,” “neesâusuktashe,” and “neeshwôsuktashe.”

    • Suthenboy

      There are people in MA that still speak that language?

      Re the universities upthread, what was that about a brain-drain? Always with the projection, Jeebus.

      • Lackadaisical

        ‘Native scholars’?

    • Lackadaisical

      ‘“Traditionally, there has not been a lot of recognition about the people who occupied this space for thousands of years before it was colonized,” said Marieke Van Damme, the group’s executive director.’

      Has anyone asked the Massachusset who were there before them, so we can recognize them as well?

    • Timeloose

      I really thought it was going to be some kind of phonetic spelling of “native NE” speak.

      Harvad Yard = Haaavaaad Yaadd

      Go Slow = Reeetaaaded

      Goodfellow Street = Wikkedd Pissa Street

    • Ownbestenemy

      Seem to be having a hard time on when they settled the place. We talking 1000s of years prior to 1620?

  29. Pope Jimbo

    You Iowegians are going in the wrong direction! Look to us Minnesodans for guidance.

    Two words for you: Perpetual Reparations

    A massive new report details the University of Minnesota’s long history of mistreating the state’s Native people and lays out recommendations, including “perpetual reparations,” to improve relations between the university and Minnesota’s 11 tribal nations.

    Among its troubling findings, the report by the TRUTH (Towards Recognition and University-Tribal Healing) Project concludes:

    The U’s founding board of regents “committed genocide and ethnic cleansing of Indigenous peoples for financial gain, using the institution as a shell corporation through which to launder lands and resources.”

    The U’s permanent trust fund controls roughly $600 million in royalties from iron ore mining, timber sales and other revenues derived from land taken from the Ojibwe and the Dakota.

    The university has contributed to the “erasure” of Native people by failing to teach a full history of the land on which it was founded.

    Researchers didn’t put a dollar figure to their call for reparations but urged the University to do more to help tribal nations, including providing full tuition waivers to “all Indigenous people and descendants” and hiring more Native staff and faculty.

    • kinnath

      It’s not easy living next to a communist paradise like MN.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Why is it so windy on the border of Iowa/Minnesoda?

        Because Minnesoda sucks and Iowa blows.

      • kinnath

        Let’s not start up the border war all over again.

      • Nephilium

        Come on, we could do with another good Ohio/Michigan war. Maybe this time we can have Michigan take Toledo.

      • Ted S.

        I’m up for the sacking of Tosu.

      • Ted S.

        Why doesn’t Iowa have a professional football team?

        Because then Minnesota would want one too.

      • whiz

        Nice dig.

        Actually, Iowa does have a pro football team: the Iowa Barnstormers, a team in the Indoor Football League.

        /pedant

    • Pope Jimbo

      The demand for full tuition waivers for “all Indigenous people and descendants” is extra special because Minnesoda Indians from families making less than $125K/year already get free tuition.

      It just isn’t fair that the rich indians from the rez’s with casinos should have to pay for college themselves!

      • Fourscore

        Not to worry, looking at yesterday’s charts the indigenous students are grossly lacking in reading/arithmetic skills so there won’t be many using that free tuition.

      • kinnath

        Uh, they’ll be in college taking remedial classes on the taxpayer dime.

    • rhywun

      The “healing” never ends, does it.

    • Suthenboy

      Everyone that belongs to some special gaggle of assholes wants money. That’s what they do for a living – stand around with their hand out and expect productive people to hand them money.
      Wanna win the lottery? Shut up and buy a ticket.

    • R C Dean

      My two words for the reparations crowd:

      Shallow.

      Grave.

  30. R.J.

    Repurposed two battery powered Christmas garlands into one super garland with plug in lights. This is the excitement of my life. Then I remembered it is movie night so I am stopping work and having a drink.