UVA cancels all DEI programs

In 1996 the State of California approved Proposition 209, which outlawed affirmative action in California public colleges. As you might expect, Black enrollment in the state's elite UCLA and Berkley fell. Then, something unexpected happened. Black enrollment at next-tier colleges went up by the same amount. You know what also went up...Black graduation rates. Specifically by 55%.

Blacks and minorities who were enrolled in schools where they weren't in the lower 10% of incoming SAT scores performed better, had higher graduation and employment rates.

For fans of the Economist Thomas Sowell, he takes a deep dive into this subject matter in his book Intellectuals and Race. A great read.

Virginia Isn’t for DEI Lovers Anymore

UVA’s board of visitors strikes the college ‘equity’ bureaucracy, while Trump cancels $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University.

By The Editorial Board, WSJ

March 7, 2025 4:26 pm ET

Universities are no longer a safe space for violating civil-rights laws, and Friday was a banner day on that score. The University of Virginia banned DEI in colleges state-wide, and the Trump Administration pulled some $400 million in funding from Columbia University.

The UVA board of visitors adopted a plan to dissolve all DEI programs on campus as well as all DEI offices and positions across the UVA system. The plan covers “admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes . . . discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies and all other aspects of student, academic and campus life.” The goal is to make sure UVA complies with the Constitution and the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin called the vote “a huge step toward restoring the ideas and pillars of Thomas Jefferson and the university that he founded, that everyone is created equal, that we will not have illegal discrimination, that we will restore merit-based opportunity.”

This is a major departure for UVA, which has been all-in for DEI. In 2020 the school’s Racial Equity Task Force called for $950 million for racial equity initiatives. By 2021 the school tied for the second largest number of DEI personnel among major universities with 94 and had 6.5 DEI staff for every 100 professors, according to a report by Jay Greene and James Paul of the Heritage Foundation. In March 2024, Open the Books reported UVA was spending $20 million a year for 235 DEI employees.

The UVA faculty won’t be pleased by the board’s decision. In a meeting of the Faculty Senate Executive Council in February, DEI committee chair Eric Ramirez-Weaver said the committee was looking for “workarounds” to preserve race preferences and DEI on campus. The goal was to find “how new recruiting techniques can be done post the Harvard decision,” he said, referring to the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling that found preferences in admissions violated the Constitution.

The UVA board resolution says it will make sure there are no such efforts to “circumvent prohibitions on the use of race,” and it will have to be vigilant. Texas passed a DEI ban in 2023, but schools reshuffled staff into positions that pursue the same goals.

The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School kept its dean for health equity, according to Do No Harm, a group that tracks DEI in medicine. The school’s website still says students should “demonstrate an understanding of the root causes of health inequities,” including “socialization of dominant cultural norms, beliefs and values.”

On Feb. 26, Texas state Sens. Brandon Creighton and Paul Bettencourt said they will block funding increases until schools demonstrate compliance. Public universities typically get 30% to 40% of their funding from state and federal sources.

At least 11 states including Florida, Tennessee, Iowa and Idaho have passed laws restricting DEI. The UVA ban is notable given that Democrats control both houses of the state Legislature. The board’s unanimous decision included the votes of four board members appointed by former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam as well as those appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Also on Friday, the Trump Administration canceled $400 million or so in federal grants and contracts to Columbia for failing to protect Jewish students from discrimination. Columbia was ground zero for last spring’s antisemitic campus protests, and this week protests broke out again at the school and nearby Barnard College. Police made multiple arrests.

The sanction against Columbia is a warning to all schools that they risk losing funds if they practice or tolerate discrimination. Virginia is wise to act first.