The increase includes vice provost for diversity, and other DEI positions.
The University of Nebraska at Lincoln has added more than 350 new jobs over the past 10 years. Most of them were administrative positions. Meanwhile, student enrollment numbers have remained steady. college fix The analysis was found.
Among the new hires is the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion. According to the university's personnel report, his annual salary this year is $267,585.
The public university's Lincoln campus employed 4,014 full-time administrators and support staff during the 2022-23 school year, the most recent year for which data is available, according to information the school files with the federal Unified Postsecondary Education Data System.
In 2013-2014, UNL employed 3,720 administrators and support staff, according to IPEDS data. This means that 294 management positions were added over 10 years.
Administrators and support staff include administration, student and academic affairs, IT, public relations, administrative support, maintenance, legal, and other non-academic departments.
Meanwhile, over the same decade, faculty and staff numbers grew by 60, while student enrollment remained relatively the same at about 18,100, data show.
UNL employs one faculty member for every 10 students and one administrator for every five students.
The professor-to-student ratio was found to have slightly increased from 99 professors per 1,000 students in 2013 to 102 in 2022.
However, the student-to-administrative and support staff ratio increased from 206 to 221 per 1,000 students, according to IPEDS data.
Asked about the data, Melissa Lee, chief communications officer for the University of Nebraska system, went to the Lincoln campus Monday. college fix.
“The University of Nebraska Central Administration Office has no comment because hiring decisions are made at the campus level,” Lee said in an email.
The UNL communications office did not respond to multiple requests for comment over the past two weeks seeking a response to the analysis and an update on proposed cuts to DEI programs.
Request to discontinue DEI program
Last November, UNL President Rodney Bennett said the school was considering an $800,000 cut to “diversity and inclusion” programs due to the budget deficit. Fixes It has been reported.
“UNL’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion will be reorganized to support university-wide priorities and initiatives with a greater focus on DEI efforts occurring primarily at the college and unit level,” Bennett wrote to the Academic Planning Committee at the time.
Doug Kagan, president of Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, said: Fixes In a recent email, his group urged lawmakers to cut funding for DEI programs across the University of Nebraska system.
DEI actually represents “division, exclusion, and indoctrination on our college campuses,” he said in testimony shared with the state Legislature in February. Fixes.
“We seek to destroy the current system in which success is based on ability, hard work, and merit rather than individuals profiting from the perception of being victims,” Kagan said. “Our tax dollars should not be funding this intellectual nonsense.” “It will happen,” he added.
Prioritize diversity and inclusion when hiring
The Lincoln campus employs at least 40 people in its DEI program alone.
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion has 10 full-time employees, including the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion. This position was created in 2019, one year after the office was established. Other DEI staff members include the Director of Faculty Engagement and Wellness and the Vice President for Inclusive Leadership and Learning.
The office's salary/wages budget for the current academic year is more than $800,000, according to a university personnel report.
One of the office's projects is the Superintendent's Gender and Sexual Identity Status Committee. Among other things, the committee awards awards to individuals, departments or campus organizations that have “made a significant impact on the LGBTQA+ community.”
The Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance employs 16 people, including a civil rights resolution specialist and an affirmative action officer, and the Center for Gender and Sexuality employs 13, according to the university directory.
However, other employees, including faculty and staff, may also have been hired based on their commitment to diversity and inclusion.
In recent years free press “DEI has played a central role in hiring decisions” in many Nebraska college programs, including the College of Engineering, said John Sailer, a senior fellow at the National Association of Scholars, according to the report.
Sailer's research found that the university's evaluation criteria gave job applicants good marks, “identifying and discussing 'intersecting aspects of diversity' while punishing candidates who fail to 'distinguish between inclusion and diversity.'”
UNL also began offering a “Racial Justice, Equity, and Inclusion” minor in 2021, and the DEI Office will provide “7 scholarships annually to faculty, staff, students, and alumni who actively advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in a transformative and equitable environment.” We are giving out awards for sustainable practices.”
Additionally, a campus program launched earlier this year recruits “teachers of color” to “address white normative spaces in education.” Fixes It has been reported.
Lawmakers take action
DEI efforts at universities have come under scrutiny in recent years.
Republican Gov. Jim Pillen, a former university regent, is also among the critics. He said during the campaign that critical race theory “should not be taught in K-12 schools and should not be forced on students at the University of Nebraska.”
“It is morally wrong to silence people or invalidate their perspectives because of the color of their skin,” he previously said. “You must not make divisive or political statements. We are all created equal in the eyes of God, and we should be judged by the content of our character, not by the color of our skin.”
Meanwhile, state Sen. Dave Murman introduced a bill in January that would prohibit public universities from requiring employees to sign contracts requiring them to participate in or support “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs. It would also prohibit spending tax dollars on DEI programs.
More: 'DEI must die': Nebraska bill would ban college diversity pledges
Image: University of Nebraska, Lincoln Campus/Facebook
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