DEI in Disguise

The post-DEI university looks a lot like the old one

When I immigrated from Poland to the United States, I spoke virtually no English. Yet, despite facing language barriers and the initial struggle of fitting into a new culture, I always felt welcomed. This genuine inclusivity... acceptance based on kindness rather than policy... is something I deeply value. But today, what universities label as "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI) initiatives bear little resemblance to the welcoming environment I experienced. Instead, DEI has evolved into an expensive ideological bureaucracy driving skyrocketing tuition costs and offering little real benefit to students.

DEI’s New Disguise

Universities like the University of Alabama and the University of Michigan recently made headlines by publicly discontinuing their DEI programs.

But these announcements were largely symbolic. At Alabama, the role of DEI administrator wasn’t eliminated... it was simply renamed the "Vice President and Associate Provost for Opportunities, Connections and Success," complete with the same inflated salaries. Similarly, Michigan replaced "DEI" with terms like "Hope", but retained the costly administrative structures underneath.

Why the deceit? Because DEI has become deeply entrenched, not as a means to create genuine inclusivity, but as a form of ideological enforcement, complete with highly paid administrators whose primary function appears to be preserving their positions rather than enriching student experiences.

Recent legislation in states like Florida, Texas, and Alabama aims to dismantle DEI programs in public institutions by prohibiting the use of public funds for race- or gender-based programs. However, instead of genuinely reforming these bloated bureaucracies, universities have responded with semantic sleight of hand... rebranding DEI initiatives under different names while keeping the ideology and the expensive administrative infrastructure firmly intact. These actions may stretch, if not outright violate, the spirit of the law.

At the University of Alabama, where I was a faculty member until 2023, the old DEI office was simply repackaged into the Division of Opportunities, Connections and Success. The name has changed, but the mission, the staff, and most importantly, the money remain firmly in place.

https://ocs.ua.edu/about/

The Deep Rot in Academia

The ideological bureaucracy infecting higher education runs far deeper than simple salary figures or name changes. DEI has embedded itself into faculty hiring, tenure reviews, course content, student life programming, and research funding decisions. Administrators with vague, feel-good titles now wield enormous influence, while those doing the actual teaching and research... those responsible for the academic mission... are increasingly sidelined.

The scale of this administrative machine is not insignificant. Ohio State University, for instance, employed 201 staff in DEI-related roles at a cost of $13.3 million annually. In the UK, universities have doubled EDI staffing budgets to over £28 million. These are not token gestures... these are entrenched empires of ideology funded by rising tuition and student debt.

If you think this problem is limited to a few offices or a handful of administrators, you're sorely mistaken. In the subscriber-only section, I’ll walk you through the staggering financial implications... how one semester of my GEO 101 course with 360 students generated seven figures in tuition revenue, while my own salary barely cracked the mid-five figures. I’ll show you what "Vice President and Associate Provost for Opportunities, Connections and Success" at Alabama earns in a single month... and I have the receipts. Literally.

We’ll compare numbers, trace the administrative bloat, and ask real questions: Where is the money going? Why are students paying more than ever, and getting less in return? And what can we do to root out the ideological rot buried deep within our universities?

To get the full breakdown... complete with data, public records, and salary documentation... and to support a growing community fighting for genuine reform, subscribe now at IrrationalFear.com.