ATLANTA — Following a request made back in April by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones for an overview of DEI spending at Georgia public colleges, University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue offered his response last week in both the form of a nearly 200-page accounting of positions at schools and their funding and a personal letter.
Without specifically taking a position on DEI initiatives on campuses, Perdue both alluded to the value of diverse and inclusive educational spaces as well as protecting First Amendment rights at schools - an apparent point of concern for Lt. Gov. Jones.
"Higher education is a place where people - young people particularly - come to realize that not everybody brings their same life perspective," Perdue, a former Republican governor of Georgia and former Trump administration official, wrote. "We cannot learn from one another if we don't listen to one another. We want people to feel free to express their First Amendment rights on our campuses without being shouted down or called out."
Later in the letter, Perdue noted that DEI initiatives "target a wide variety of populations under the DEI umbrella."
"Veterans from all five branches of the Armed Services, people with disabilities, adult learners, rural and urban residents, STEM students, first-generation college students as well as international students, those from different faiths and those of varying socio-economic backgrounds are all included," he wrote. "...This broad array is much more inclusive than what some may view as controversial about DEI."
You can read the full letter at the bottom of this story.
The 200-page outline included a questionnaire, with a preliminary question of "Does your institution, college(s), and/or department(s) have a Diversity Office (DEI) or a designated diversity officer? If so, please list name and title."
Other sections of the questionnaire include staff size and budgets as well as job descriptions as well as the "activities and how they are meeting the goals of your institution" at campus diversity offices.
At the University of Georgia, for example, the outline lists 39 full-time employees working under the DEI umbrella -- including it in its Office of Institutional Diversity -- with a total budget of $3.305 million (as well as a breakdown that notes roughly one-third of that budget is supported by state and federal funds and about two-thirds of it by "other.")
According to the university, the 39 positions represent less than one-fifth of 1% of the school's workforce, and the portion of the salaries relevant to the school's diversity efforts account for little more than one-tenth of 1% of UGA's total budget. State-approved funds amounting to 0.03% of the school's total budget.
UGA's response notes that the mission of the Office of Institutional Diversity is to "provide institutional leadership to the focused effort to enhance and maintain a diverse and inclusive environment for learning, teaching, research and service."
On Twitter, Jones said: "I'm going to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely to support a higher education system that equips students for future success — not on advancing divisive concepts like DEI. This report shows more work to be done — but commend USG on first step. "
He also retweeted a comment crediting him with the "effort to expose & get rid of this rot in higher ed," adding, "DEI, CRT, SEL and all of this nonsense is wasting our tax dollars & indoctrinating college students in divisive ideology."
Former Atlanta Mayor and Biden administration official Keisha Lance Bottoms highlighted Perdue's response in defense of DEI, writing: "This is a reminder that there are still those willing to put people over politics."
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the mission statement for the Office of Institutional Diversity and clarify the number of diversity positions across the University of Georgia.