UNC board didn’t have power to divert DEI money to police, university system head says

The UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees did not have the authority to amend the university’s budget and divert millions of dollars in diversity, equity and inclusion funding to campus safety, UNC System President Peter Hans said Thursday, effectively nullifying the trustees’ action.

The trustee board voted last week in a special meeting to approve two line-item amendments to the university’s budget: one change to divert the $2.3 million in annual DEI spending, and another to carve out the university’s athletics budget from the overall plan to allow for further review of that department’s financial standing.

Hans spoke to reporters following a UNC System Board of Governors meeting Thursday in which the board voted to repeal previous DEI requirements across all of the state’s public universities. Hans emphasized that the new policy will support “student success programs,” and money previously directed toward DEI programs and efforts will be re-prioritized to various success-oriented initiatives at the universities. Regarding what programs might benefit from the reallocated funds, Hans said he doesn’t think “the board necessarily has a specific program in mind,” though he said the efforts should help retain students and assist them as they work toward graduation.

“They’re going to trust the chancellor and their teams on campus to be able to reinvest those funds in something that is working on their campus,” Hans said. “Now, they’re all called different things on every campus and they may have slightly different points of emphasis, because there are different student populations. They’re just different campuses.”

Asked by The News & Observer whether campus safety and police would be considered part of such student-success efforts, Hans replied: “No.”

Hans said the UNC-Chapel Hill board’s action “was not in compliance with the Board of Governors’ policy” on university budgets, which tasks trustees with taking an “up or down vote” on the university chancellor’s recommended spending plan. Hans said that legal counsel for the UNC System advised UNC-Chapel Hill’s counsel that the board did not have the authority to “change line items” in the budget.

But the UNC trustees “chose to disregard that advice,” Hans said.

Board chair asked about compliance in meeting

UNC Board of Trustees Chair John Preyer told The N&O Thursday that the board “always wants to follow system policy.”

“But it’s a shame that the system does not want to redirect the savings on DEI to public safety when our university police department has worked so tirelessly to protect our students,” Preyer said.

The board’s vote last week came weeks after tensions escalated on campus over a pro-Palestinian encampment, resulting in police using force to disband protesters on at least two separate occasions. Trustee Marty Kotis cited the protests as a reason for diverting the DEI funds to police, though fellow board member Dave Boliek told The N&O the policy was under consideration before the protests began.

At the Board of Trustees’ special meeting, Preyer seemed to anticipate that the trustees’ vote might raise questions, asking UNC-Chapel Hill General Counsel Charles Marshall prior to the action: “Is someone going to come back and say, ‘Sorry, you couldn’t have done that’?” Preyer appeared to be referencing the board’s decision to decouple the university’s athletics budget from the rest of the budget, not the decision to divert DEI funding.

Marshall replied to Preyer’s question: “Very possibly.”

“We had conversations last year about whether this is an up or down vote. My understanding is it was,” Marshall said.

Marshall noted that the university system in recent years has adopted a new budget-approval process. The “all-funds budget process,” which considers the entirety of a university’s spending instead of department-level plans, is used to “improve financial efficiency and to make targeted investments in institutional and system strategic goals,” per a system description.

“This is a new process, alright? I don’t think any campus has ever tried to line-item,” Marshall said. “I don’t think that’s what the Board of Governors is looking for, but I did not call them before I came in here.”

Still, Marshall said he was “comfortable” with the board’s action, given that any issues would “get resolved” at the UNC System level.

UNC System policy states that trustees “shall advise the chancellor with respect to the development, execution, and administration of the budget of the constituent institution, consistent with actions by the General Assembly and the Board of Governors” and approve the plans on an annual basis.

Budgets for all campuses in the university system were presented for information only in a Board of Governors committee meeting Wednesday, and votes were not taken to approve the plans.

With the trustees’ actions being out of compliance with system budget policies, Hans said the committee subsequently considered interim Chancellor Lee Roberts’ original budget proposal in the committee meeting. Meeting materials contained a spending plan labeled as the chancellor’s budget. However, an accompanying letter from UNC-Chapel Hill Chief Financial Officer Nate Knuffman noted the two amendments approved by the trustees.

Trustee voiced opposition to diverting funds

While the trustees’ vote to divert DEI funding originally appeared unanimous, trustee Ralph Meekins later clarified at the board’s May 16 meeting that he did not vote and that he did not support the board’s action. Meekins said he was not informed of the motion to divert the funds until the meeting, and noted that the vote to approve the “meticulously crafted” budget is generally taken as an up or down vote.

Meekins, who has previously spoken out about the board overstepping its authority on DEI and other issues, said he did “not believe it is appropriate of our board to take the actions it took” on the issue.

Meekins said he remained confident in Roberts’ actions on the budget and any potential changes to DEI efforts at the university.

“Fortunately, in spite of the actions this board has taken, the issue of how UNC-Chapel Hill handles its efforts on diversity will ultimately be determined by our interim chancellor. I trust that he will await clarification from the BOG regarding its DEI policy and will adhere to its directives while thoroughly examining the matter, listening to all perspectives, and ultimately making an informed decision,” Meekins said. “It’s undoubtedly a challenging task, but I pray he approaches the changes to our DEI program with precision, using a scalpel, not a machete. Given his track record so far, I am optimistic that this will indeed be the approach that he takes.”

Roberts told reporters at the board’s May 16 meeting that he would wait for the Board of Governors’ new policy to become finalized to determine how the university’s DEI spending and programming would change.

“We’re going to have to wait for the implementation guidelines to understand exactly how to how to redirect our funding,” Roberts said.

UNC System legal staff is expected to issue guidance to campuses on how they should comply with the policy “in the coming weeks,” per a printed handout provided to media Thursday. The changes, which could result in DEI-related jobs being changed or eliminated, are expected to be in-place by the beginning of the upcoming academic year.

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