Want to know how diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology has begun to take over public higher education in Alabama? Read Scott Yenor’s recent report, “Going Woke in Dixie?: The progress of DEI at the University of Alabama and Auburn University.”
He details the effects of the University of Alabama’s “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) strategic plan, lists the number of well-paid diversity officers, and catalogs how athletics and Greek life have been subordinated to DEI ideology. His description of DEI at Auburn University is just as comprehensive. “Going Woke in Dixie?” provides chapter and verse on just how badly DEI has colonized Alabama’s system of public higher education.
In 2019, the report notes, UA celebrated that more than one-third of its undergraduate curriculum is “diversity related.” The university also pays 31 dedicated DEI personnel, and its education school dean believes DEI is “the whole purpose of the university.”
“Social activism in previously underrepresented communities now helps faculty earn tenure at the University of Alabama, as opposed to a solid teaching and research record,” the report notes. The report estimates the two universities spend more than $5 million on DEI initiatives a year. Auburn pays 20 full-time DEI staff and uses racial criteria when hiring staff.
Radical advocates in higher education, especially in “red” states, often pretend DEI isn’t really there. Yenor’s report makes it clear to Alabama’s citizens and policymakers that any such denials from university officials will have nothing to do with reality. The pervasive extent and illiberal effect
