UNC System looks to keep 'welcome' environment after move away from DEI policies

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- As UNC System campuses rethink their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts under a new neutrality policy, UNC-Chapel Hill Vice Provost Leah Cox reassured her university on Thursday that they're committed to supporting all their students.

"We want to make sure that they're feeling welcome, they're feeling heard, that they're feeling a sense of belonging," Cox said.

The new policy, which aims to keep institutions from taking political stances, has forced existing programs to comply, including the elimination and reassignment of several dozen jobs across the system's universities.

UNC-Chapel Hill, which reported 20 positions have been eliminated, no longer has a DEI office on campus.

"Many of the programs and systems that were there before still exist," Cox said. "So many of those programs have just been moved to other reporting structures. There's no longer a central DEI or DNI office, but some of the programs are still standing."

UNC Systems President Peter Hans reaffirmed his commitment to student success.

"Our focus here from the beginning has been to get back to basics, which is our students' success," Hans said. "And by reinvesting that $17 million in support for all students regardless of background or belief is the outcome I believe the board hoped to achieve."

ALSO SEE | Students at UNC-Chapel Hill react to DEI changes

While system leaders have said the reports will be scrutinized far and wide, Manuel Lloyd said he felt the changes at UNC-Wilmington were extreme. UNCW eliminated three positions and realigned 13, but its report details how job responsibilities have changed for every director of the university's identity-based campus centers, such as the Upperman Center, which served as a cultural hub for African American students and was also where Lloyd worked.

"While they technically still exist, it would just take away from the ability to give high-quality support to the university as a whole," Lloyd said. "Particularly those students that they were specifically supporting."

Despite UNC System leaders' pledge to commit to student success for students from all backgrounds and beliefs, Lloyd said he's concerned about the new policy's potential long-term effects.

"Some of these programs just got shifted to different areas so if the programming didn't need to change, then why did they need to get rid of those positions out of the centers?" Lloyd said. "I think diversity, equity, and inclusion is incredibly important, and if we're not going to do it because of controversy of the day, then I think that the entire higher education system is at stake because the job is to educate about, you know, what's going on in the world, so how do we not then deal with issues of the day?"