In the wake of the landmark Students for Fair Admissions, Inc v. President and Fellows of Harvard College case, race-based admissions within the bounds of affirmative action will cease to exist for colleges and programs around the country.
Yet, colleges and universities nationwide are stuck with a paradoxical problem: how can student bodies be diversified to enrich their cultural and ethnic prowess without the use of racial identity during the admissions process? With the undergraduate admissions season on the horizon this fall, there is no logical answer to this question without testing the bounds of this newly interpreted law, putting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) departments in the hot seat across the country.
Here in Wisconsin, the political battle over diversity is already in full swing. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos revealed his own personal vendetta against DEI programs on UW campuses as early as May of this year. Here, he claimed DEI increases the racial divide on campus, calling the presence of the programs “indoctrinating.”
Attacks on DEI are prominent at state-run entities around the country. Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has effectively established himself as the “anti-woke” candidate, seemingly running on removing “wokeness” from American institutions. Vos embodies similar ideals, and his prominent position in state politics enables him to substantially disrupt Wisconsin’s legislative process.
As the state utilizes a biennial budget, a back-and-forth between the governor’s office and the Legislature ensues every two years. During the debate over the 2023-25 budget, the two bodies of government clashed rather fiercely over staffing and funding for DEI departments within the UW System.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers repeatedly denied a provision cutting nearly 200 positions from these DEI departments and proposed a $305 million spending increase for the UW System. But Vos and his Republican colleagues insisted on removing these jobs with a $32 million budget cut for the UW System despite a record-high budget surplus of nearly $7 billion.
Vos could have put his ideological differences aside to fund state services for over eight million Wisconsinites. Instead, he wrongfully used our university system’s funding as a political pawn to progress his political agenda.
Even with Evers’ move to detach the funding cut from DEI programs with a partial veto, departments across UW System campuses still have less resources to work with. And with the recent uptick in discriminatory incidents — especially on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus — this lack of funding appears to be an antithesis to a solution to these violent acts.
Last semester, a UW-Madison student was shown saying racial slurs and violent remarks against Black people. UW-Madison claimed they could not discipline the student as the remarks were within her “First Amendment rights.” This incident came after a string of antisemitic displays where chalkings were written across campus falsely claiming Jewish student organizations are “racist” and “genocidal.”
Regardless of the DEI department’s true effectiveness, an educational void surrounding these current and future events will lead to a further uptick in discriminatory acts.
A looming change in admissions practices?
Since the recent affirmative action decision, UW-Madison has announced that race will no longer play a role in their admissions decisions to remain lawful. Although this decision will significantly impact UW-Madison as the university already struggles with minority student enrollment. As of the 2022 fall semester, about 25% of the undergraduate student body is made up of “students of color” per the 2022-2023 Data Digest.
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s letter, which was sent out shortly after the Supreme Court decision was released, affirmed UW-Madison’s commitment to sustaining a diverse student body. However, it did not detail how they intend to do so. While these changes are still in the works and will not affect the 2023-24 admissions year, the entire UW System needs to find alternate ways to create diverse student bodies.
For Mr. Vos, the ruling seemed to benefit his political agenda.
The Speaker is looking into getting rid of educational grants that benefit minority students, and he said in a tweet last month he will “introduce legislation to correct the discriminatory laws on the books and pass repeals in the fall.” However, this will undoubtedly impact enrollment rates throughout the UW System as students of color will now have less resources to pay cost-of-attendance rates.
Instead of getting rid of these grants, the UW System should look to enhance these programs and persuade students of color to apply to UW System campuses.
Cutting funding for DEI positions across the UW System can only hurt students’ education. The only things that will come from any UW funding cuts are campus closures, decreased enrollments and UW System graduates moving out of state.
Since Vos and his Republican colleagues pride themselves on the state's economic growth, more of their political capital should be focused on supporting the state’s largest employer and source of college-educated adults instead of attacking the UW System for political points.
