There’s no reason for Wisconsin taxpayers to keep picking up the tab for these programs.
The University of Wisconsin System, like other public university systems, spends millions every year on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices. Conservatives argue that these offices are staffed by progressive ideologues who contribute little to education outcomes and pursue divisive political ends with taxpayer money. Wisconsin assembly speaker Robin Vos (R.) is currently in a battle with Governor Tony Evers (D.) about whether those offices should get funding in the next state budget.
Vos wants to cut the $32 million the UW System wants to spend on DEI. He has rebranded it as “division, exclusion, and indoctrination.” He went so far as to say he’s embarrassed to be an alumnus of the UW System.
In addition to the DEI cuts, the Republican legislature’s budget includes tax cuts, similar to other tax cuts implemented by conservatives across the country. Republicans added some provisions that Evers wanted, including pay raises for public defenders, prosecutors, and corrections workers. They also compromised on school funding, increasing funding for public schools by $1 billion (Evers wanted $2.6 billion) while also expanding the state’s school-choice program.
The state senate passed the budget yesterday, and the assembly is expected to pass it soon, sending it to Evers. He has vowed to veto a budget that includes cuts to DEI programs. Vos is essentially calling his bluff, saying that he does not believe Evers will veto the entire state budget over DEI spending. As governor, Evers can veto specific spending provisions that are included in the budget, but he can’t restore ones that aren’t.
Democrats are accusing Republicans of gouging the UW System, but the $32 million DEI cut isn’t significant compared with the system’s $6.5 billion annual budget. Democrats are framing Republicans’ budget as leaving the UW System $500 million short, but that’s $500 million below what it requested, which even Evers thought was too high. The DEI cut would require the elimination of fewer than 200 jobs.
As Mike Nichols of the conservative Badger Institute points out, the DEI programs aren’t working even on their own terms. According to the census, 6.6 percent of Wisconsinites are black, but fewer than 2 percent of UW-Madison graduates are. Only 146 black students graduated with four-year degrees from UW-Madison in 2021–22, which is only three more than in 2011–12.
The UW System has competing priorities that make DEI difficult. Its first priority, as a state university system, is to educate the people of Wisconsin. That priority is especially strong in Wisconsin, which still adheres to the “Wisconsin Idea” from the Progressive Era. Another priority, as a university system run by progressives, is to conform to progressive notions of racial diversity.
It’s difficult to do both of those things at the same time because the people of Wisconsin are not very racially diverse. Of the state’s relatively few black K–12 students, many are enrolled in poorly performing public schools in inner cities that do not prepare them for college. That’s partly a consequence of progressives’ opposition to school choice and support for public-sector unions that hinder reform efforts, in addition to other factors such as poverty and crime.
No university DEI office can change those facts, so it’s not fair to expect them to have increased the share of black graduates by much. But as Nichols points out, the UW System lists increasing “access for underrepresented minorities in STEM” and eliminating “the achievement gap between majority and underrepresented students” as goals of its DEI programs. If those programs aren’t achieving those goals, and, as Republicans argue, they push a radical left-wing agenda, there’s no reason for Wisconsin taxpayers to keep picking up the tab for them.