Should Virginians Pay for University “Diversity” Leftism? by William M. Knorpp | Report

Executive Summary

Virginians have at least two pressing concerns about their public colleges and universities. The first concern is skyrocketing costs that burden Virginia taxpayers and threaten to put higher education out of reach for many. The second concern is politicization—the loss of institutional neutrality—which has turned colleges and universities into radical political monocultures, hostile not just to America but to Western Civilization itself. As many have documented, both students and faculty now report hesitation, if not fear, in expressing their political views. And in September 2021, material for student orientation leaders at James Madison University in Harrisonburg listed as “oppressors” Christians, whites, males, Western Europeans, and Americans.

This report, issued by the Virginia Association of Scholars (VAS) with data collected by Eric Hammer, Ph.D., shows that the major cause of both pathologies—cost and politicization—is diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology, also known as “DEI.” Under the DEI banner, anti-American racial and sexual politics advance, including with allied slogans and theories such as “white privilege,” “anti-racism,” “critical race theory,” and gender ideology.

The result is a malignant identity politics that turns women against men, ethnic group against ethnic group, and young citizens against their own civilization and country. Who is behind this destructive and divisive worldview? Who benefits when a citizenry turns against itself this way? And, more tothe point, should Virginians be paying for this?

DEI: Dollar Costs

The first part of this report concerns the dollar cost of DEI. The method used to produce these estimates was conservative: it considered only salaries of public university administrators whose positions are explicitly devoted to some component of DEI—that is, to “diversity,” “equity,” and/or “inclusion.”

But even with this conservative approach, the estimated cost of DEI to the taxpayer is staggering:

Overall cost: In 2020—a year for which data were available for all 15 schools—DEI administrator salary costs exceeded $15,050,635.00. But this figure is already obsolete as commitment to and expenditures for DEI at Virginia’s schools surged in 2021 and 2022.
Rate of growth: At the two universities where 2021 information was publicly available, the single year-over-year increase in DEI spending from 2020 to 2021 surged by at least 82%.
- James Madison University: 33 administrators at $2,566,326 in 2020 to 65 administrators at $5,302,266 in 2021.
- University of Virginia: 38 administrators at $4,149,732 in 2020 to 77 administrators at $6,924,279 in 2021.
Estimates greatly understate the costs: These estimates are based on salary, not the full dollar costs to the employer, andare thus exclusive of benefits, payroll taxes, and so on. They also exclude other costs for activities, including overhead and countless hidden and miscellaneous expenditures to implement DEI ideology such as required training (including for orientation), mandatory programs for employees, on-campus councils, on-campus centers, and unidentified DEI administrators.
More bloat and politicization to come: As of 2020, all surveyed schools planned to increase DEI spending.
Overpaid ideological administrators: In 2020, 45 administrative positions had salaries greater than $100,000 per year.
DEI salaries cost students scholarships: Monies used to implement DEI, including the salaries listed here, could have fundedover 1,100 full tuition scholarships for Virginia students, especially for those in financial need.
DEI administrators are often paid more than teaching faculty: In 2020, the average salary of a full-time professor in Virginia was under $100,000. The report estimates that the monies spent on Virginia’s DEI administrator salaries could have funded approximately 150 full-time professors.

DEI: Non-Dollar Costs - Politicization and Ideological Capture of Universities

But the cost of DEI is not just dollars lost and scholarships forgone.

The real cost of DEI in higher education is its attack on critical thinking and its subversion of the university itself.

While the words “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” sound pleasant enough, in reality they are a Trojan horse to undermine a university’s traditional commitment to objective inquiry, unbiased instruction, and institutional neutrality. DEI represents the ideological capture of the university by the progressive left, which appears to be at war with the civilization that produced the university and the very concepts of objective inquiry, unbiased instruction, and truth seeking.

We invite all Virginians—voters, taxpayers, faculty, parents, students, legislators and administrators—to consider for themselves the report’s findings and analysis. Virginia’s schools are funded in large part by Virginia tax payers, a form of public trust, so that the schools may conduct research and transmit knowledge and vocational skills to the next generation.

VAS has concluded that DEI is a mechanism for stealing that money and breaching that trust for its own destructive ends.

Left unchecked, the DEI cancer has metastasized, and it will continue to metastasize and to kill not just the university but also the society the university is intended to serve.

VAS hopes this report will help in its remission.

What is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?

“The only remedy for past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy for present discrimination is future discrimination.” Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist (p. 18)

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is a set of slogans associated with “critical race theory” (CRT), “critical social justice” (CSJ), and other leftistideologies. One thread running through CRT and CSJ is that oppression and discrimination are pervasive, and that this oppression explains all measured differences in group outcomes. Virginians, like all Americans, are told that deeply rooted systemic oppression is inherent in their institutions and that active reverse discrimination is the only answer, as if two wrongs could make a right.

This view conveniently ignores the racial and ethnic unrest in most of the rest of the world, as if America and the West were uniquely evil and racially bigoted. In fact, America and the West are less tribal when compared to non-Western regions and are more focused on the individual and more tolerant of individual differences.

But under the DEI view, the individual is deemphasized, including individual merit and character, and talk of individual responsibility is attacked as oppressive and culturally racist, patriarchal, sexist, homophobic, cisgendered, and so on. Those of the “oppressor” class who do not “repent” of their “guilt” are often identified and shamed, to the point of harassment and beyond.

Currently, those considered “privileged” and therefore within the “oppressor” class (to be subject to reverse discrimination) include men, heterosexuals, Christians, Western Europeans, and Americans.

Those considered “oppressed” (to benefit from reverse discrimination) include “Latinx,” blacks, non-Western Europeans, homosexuals, Muslims, Jews, and those who are over- weight or disabled.

DEI imposes top-down discrimination, with favored and non-favored groups, to pit Americans against one another. Aspirations to excellence or achievement become wrong- think, and social order and cohesion are undermined.

The slogans of DEI deserve careful scrutiny:

Diversity: College was once championed as a place of ideas, including unpopular ones. But diversity no longer applies to ideas or to thought; it applies only to race, background, sexuality, etc. Indeed, thought is increasingly controlled and expected to conform to reigning leftist sensibilities.

Therefore, “diversity” is actually a slogan against the diversity that matters—diversity of thought, including political viewpoint.

The double-standards and hypocrisy of “diversity” are obvious: Are there more male students in STEM fields? Sexism. Are there more women completing college? Right and proper. And if Asians are “overrepresented” in a student body compared to their proportion in the population, this is a problem that must be corrected by lowering admission standards for “underserved groups” or by outright racial quotas.

Merit is thus replaced by grievance.

Equity: Equity, properly understood, means fairness above and beyond the letter of the law; courts of equity developed to provide relief not authorized by mere statutes. But “equity” today is a slogan used to advance arbitrary demands for group outcomes. Truly equal treatment would argue thateveryone should be considered according to the same standards for, say, engineering courses. Fraudulent “equity” demands that all cherry-picked groups,now usually race- or sex-based, should graduate engineers of percentages equal to their pro- portion within the general population. Failure to meet such statistical parity is held up as prima facie evidence of systemic discrimination. Yet, discrimination against some—those of Asian or European descent, forexample—is deemed desirable. In this way, the new “equity” is the opposite of equal opportunity. It is therefore a fraud.

Inclusion: For at least 50 years, ever since the Civil Rights Era, universities, especially public universities, have bent over backwards to serve people from disadvantaged backgrounds. But today, race- or gender-themed centers, speech codes, and safe spaces are designed specifically to exclude and silence people or ideas against the reigning fashion. DEI therefore works to exclude, not include. So “inclusion” is another fraud.

The Orwellian doublespeak of DEI affects both students and faculty. Students are select- ed for admission on the basis of their identities orideology as much as—maybe more than—their merit. They are then required to take courses or training in DEI ideology to graduate. They face exclusion and shaming for any dissent, and they have different levels of support and resources offered to them depending on their identities. Same for faculty: they are required to take DEI training to retain their positions, they face different tenure prospects depending on their identity group, and they must hide their beliefs and self-censor when they disagree lest they be accused of discrimination and hauled before campus kangaroo courts.

Meanwhile, ever more dollars are spent on DEI administrators and programs, while tuition and student debt increase and full-time professors are replaced with cheaper, more vulnerable, and therefore more controllable adjunct faculty.

DEI is a pernicious quasi-religion. Enshrining it as a core to the mission of Virginia’s public universities is as inappropriate as requiring classes in communist ideology for students or requiring Christian faith statements for prospective faculty. No one should be forced into indoctrination of an ideology they see as destructive, deeply divisive, and unjust. Virginians should not be forced to pay for it.

So Virginians rightly ask: Why are we paying for this?

Summary of Findings

(Virginia Commonwealth University was not found in government reports and is therefore not part of these findings.)

University (2020)	Total Salaries	Count of DEI Admin	Count > $200K	Count $100K-200K	Count <$100K
Christopher Newport University	$110,376.00	1	0	1	0
Eastern Virginia Medical School	$719,003.00	7	1	1	5
George Mason University	$1,364,809.00	20	0	5	15
James Madison University	$2,418,369.00	31	0	7	24
Longwood University	$188,543.00	4	0	0	4
Norfolk State University	$152,444.00	2	0	1	1
Old Dominion University	$803,457.00	13	0	0	13
Radford University	$265,260.00	5	0	0	5
University of Mary Washington	$455,256.00	6	0	1	5
University of Virginia	$4,149,732.00	38	3	13	22
University of Virginia’s College at Wise	$33,500.00	1	0	0	1
Virginia Tech	$4,043,786.00	47	2	9	36
Virginia State University	-	-	-	-	-
Virginia Military Institute	-	-	-	-	-
William and Mary College	$418,100.00	5	0	1	4
Grand Total	$15,0501,635.00	180	6	39	135

The table above breaks down the 2020 spending on DEI administrators across the Virginia public university system, as well as the total count of administrators per school.

That total is further broken down by the number of administrators in three pay ranges. Administrators with salaries in the six-figure range typically have titles such as Dean, Provost, Director, or Vice President.

Note that in 2020, two schools, Virginia State University (VSU) and the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), had zero DEI administrators. VMI hired its first Chief Diversity Officer in May 2021. VSU currently lists no DEI administration on its site.

The average salary for a full-time professor in Virginia is under $100,000 dollars. For the price of the DEI administration in 2020, the Virginia public university system could hire approximately 150 full-time faculty, an average of over 10 per school, which is essentially an entire department’s worth of tenured faculty per school.

And in 2021 and 2022, the hiring of DEI personnel increased dramatically across the system.

Methodology

The Path to a Conservative Estimate

The spending figures presented here underestimate DEI spending in 2020, which, in turn, is only a fraction of the current spending (academic year 2022–2023).

The data used here for 2020 figures are publicly available from GovSalaries (https://gov-salaries.com), which lists the name, title, employer name, and salary for every state employee, including public university employees.

DEI administrators were first identified by their job titles (e.g., “Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Partnerships”). These titles were confirmed against the university websites and organizational charts, where available. However, due to the variable nature of job titles across universities, as well as the failure of some schools to provide full job titles, some figures were taken from a school’s webpages first and then cross checked with government records.

In some cases, information on titles or personnel changed in a given year. For example, a staff member might have moved from a non-DEI role into a DEI role, but the new role would appear only in the school’s organizational chart, not yet in its salary data. In such cases, this report features the prior salary level of that staff member so as not to overestimate DEI expenditures.

Likewise, many administrative functions within DEI bureaucracies are hard to iso- late and quantify, depending on the record keeping and available documentation from a school. For example, the DEI role of a “Chief of Staff” is not identifiable from salary records, though such a position is no doubt part ofDEI efforts. Such a position would therefore not be included in this report’s estimates without additional indications of a DEI role, such as in a university’s organizational charts.

Therefore, the estimated salary costs in this report are a conservative, lower bound of what is actually spent on DEI administration by Virginia schools.

Hidden Costs Remain

The salary data presented here also exclude the cost of employer-side taxes and any benefits packages such as health insurance or retirement accounts, all of which range from 30% to 50% of base salary.

What’s more, salaries of DEI administrators represent only the visible part of DEI program spending. The hidden costs of DEI programs fall intomany different categories, including the following:

Faculty course and service releases for DEI activities: Many DEI offices, centers, and councils are staffed in part orwhole by full-time faculty as opposed to administrators. Typically, service obligations like these, which are in excess of the standard committee and departmental roles filled by professors, are accompanied by a “course release” for that faculty member, or a reduction in theclasses he or she must teach. These classes either still take place, which requires the hiring of additional faculty, adjuncts, or graduate students to cover the class, or they are forgone entirely, at a loss to students.
Mandated training and courses in DEI: DEI “training” takes resources away from university staff. They need time to prepare, time to attend, and time to train, and funds are needed to pay external trainers. The costs of required DEI courses for students include not only faculty time preparing and teaching such courses, but also the time students spend on this material instead of on the academic material they enrolled to learn.
Campus programs and events: Universities often sponsor other DEI programs and activities, such as special student residenceprograms or organizations, along with events either campuswide or related to specific centers or departments. Honoraria are given and expenses are reimbursed for DEI-related speakers.

All these activities are paid for, in large part, by taxpayers.

Additionally, in-kind resource costs, such as office space and administrative overhead, also come into play.

Therefore, the real cost of university DEI administration is actually much higher than what is presented here; salary information is the tip of the iceberg, with the real, full cost hidden to outsiders.

The Growth of DEI Administration Since 2020

The costs of DEI administration in 2020 are important enough. But it gets worse.

Data obtained from James Madison University and the University of Virginia show that both schools vastly expanded the number of DEI administrators in 2021 with a commensurate increase in salary spending:

JMU: 2020 - 33 admin at $2,566,326; 2021 - 65 admin at $5,302,266.
UVA: 2020 - 38 admin at $4,149,732; 2021 - 77 admin at $6,924,279.

Were this pattern to hold for Virginia’s schools overall, DEI administrative salary spending in 2021 would be roughly 1.8 times higher than in 2020, or approximately $27 million.

An extremely large amount of money is being spent on administrative bloat that is ideological in nature. DEI is highly divisive and runs counter to the mission of the Virginia University System. Taxpayers should ask, “Why are we paying for this?”

DEI Staff Expenditures by School

Below are tables by school for Virginia’s state schools. The data are for the year 2020, and, for the University of Virginia and James Madison University, data are also included for 2021.

University of Virginia

Of all Virginia universities, the University of Virginia spent the most (in absolute dollars and as a percentage of total spending) on DEI administrators in 2020.

And, in 2021, UVA roughly doubled the number of administrators and increased its spending on DEI administrators by roughly 66%.

University of Virginia 2020

Position	Salary
Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships	$340,000.00
Senior Associate Dean & Global Chief Diversity Officer	$241,875.00
Director of Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services	$206,000.00
Professor and Division Chief	$181,500.00
Associate Dean for Diversity & Inclusion	$177,225.00
Compliance Director for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights	$161,000.00
Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion & Equity	$151,000.00
Senior Director for Equity and Inclusive Excellence	$145,000.00
Director of Social, Natural, Engineering and Data Sciences	$124,801.00
Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights Specialist	$117,824.00
Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights Specialist	$117,824.00
Chief of Staff	$115,000.00
Civil Rights Investigator	$114,400.00
Civil Rights Investigator	$109,200.00
Dir Community Partnerships	$108,650.00
Director of the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center	$104,097.00
Director of Annual and Individual Giving, Architecture	$ 99,000.00
Director of Diversity Programs	$ 95,000.00
Senior Director for Grants Administration and Strategic Partnerships	$ 91,592.00
Executive Assistant to the VP for Information Technology	$ 86,424.00
Bi Reporting Analyst	$ 85,700.00
Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Outreach/Associate Dean of Admission	$ 84,000.00
Program Director for Counseling and Wellness Services	$ 79,286.00
Employment Equity Specialist	$ 75,209.00
Executive Director, Equity Center	$ 75,000.00
Associate Director Of Admissions, Diversity	$ 73,350.00
SoM Diversity Programs Manager	$ 71,656.00
Facilities Management Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Specialist	$ 70,000.00
Director of Community Research, Equity Center	$ 70,000.00
UPD Diversity Officer	$ 68,500.00
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs Manager	$ 68,000.00
Center for Diversity - Director	$ 66,000.00
University-Community Liaison	$ 65,519.00
Admin Asst to the VP & Chief Officer for Diversity & Equity	$ 65,496.00
Grant Writer/Advancement Officer, Equity Center	$ 65,000.00
Trauma Counselor	$ 60,104.00
Social Equity Advisor	$ 60,000.00
Trauma Counselor/Body Positive Coordinator	$ 59,500.00
Total	$4,149,732

University of Virginia 2021

Position	Salary
Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships	$340,000.00
Senior Associate Dean & Global Chief Diversity Officer	$241,875.00
Associate Vice President-Equal Opportunity & Civil Rights	$239,000.00
Julian Bond Professor of Civil Rights and Social Justice	$219,800.00
Director of Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services	$206,000.00
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of African-American Affairs	$189,600.00
Associate Dean for Diversity & Inclusion	$177,225.00
Compliance Director for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights	$161,000.17
Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion & Equity	$151,000.00
Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity and Belonging, Schoolof Law	$145,000.00
Senior Director for Equity and Inclusive Excellence	$145,000.00
Director of Development for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion	$140,000.00
Director of Equitable Analysis, Equity Center	$128,545.00
Compliance Director (University Staff M&P)	$118,644.90
Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights Specialist	$117,824.00
Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights Specialist	$117,824.00
Senior Director for Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Admissions	$115,000.00
Chief of Staff	$115,000.00
Civil Rights Investigator	$114,400.00
Director of Communications	$112,000.00
Civil Rights Investigator	$109,200.00
Director of Community Partnerships	$108,650.00
Director of the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center	$104,097.00
Associate Dean of Students	$102,000.00
Associate Dean	$101,800.00
Associate Dean	$96,205.00
Director of Diversity Programs	$95,000.00
Assistant Director for Assessment and Data Analytics	$92,000.00
Senior Director for Grants Administration and Strategic Partnerships	$91,592.00
Communications and Development Officer	$87,205.00
Executive Assistant to the VP for Information Technology	$86,423.85
Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Outreach/Associate Dean of Admission	$84,000.00
Program Director for Counseling and Wellness Services	$79,286.00
Pro Dr of Engaged Scholarship, Co-Prog Dr of YWLP	$77,678.00
Employment Equity Specialist	$75,209.00
Executive Director, Equity Center	$75,000.00
SOM Diversity Programs Manager	$71,656.00
Facilities Management Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Specialist	$70,000.00
Associate Director, Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,Admissions	$70,000.00
Program Manager, The Equity Center	$70,000.00
Director of Community Research, Equity Center	$70,000.00
Admin Asst to the VP & Chief Officer for Diversity & Equity	$68,764.80
UPD Diversity Officer	$68,500.00
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs Manager	$68,000.00
Center for Diversity - Director	$66,000.00
University-Community Liaison	$65,519.00
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Post-Doctoral Research Associate	$65,000.00
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Post-Doctoral Research Associate	$65,000.00
Grant Writer/Advancement Officer, Equity Center	$65,000.00
Trauma Counselor	$60,104.00
Supplier Diversity Business Analyst	$60,000.00
Social Equity Advisor	$60,000.00
Finance Generalist, Equity Center	$60,000.00
Trauma Counselor/Body Positive Coordinator	$59,500.00
Executive Assistant to the Title IX Coordinator	$58,760.00
Trauma Counselor	$58,425.00
Business Manager	$58,220.00
Department Finance and Administration Manager	$56,238.00
Virginia-North Carolina Alliance Program Coordinator	$54,075.00
Program Coordinator, Center for Diversity	$53,290.00
Executive Assistant (Assistant Dean 2022)	$52,916.22
Mental Health Counselor	$51,460.00
Outreach Coordinator	$51,046.73
Education and Outreach Specialist (University Staff M&P)	$50,809.00
Descendant Project Researcher	$50,000.00
Program Coordinator, Multicultural Student Services	$49,000.00
Resident in Counseling	$48,663.00
Student Engagement and Inclusion Administrative Coordinator	$47,998.08
Program Coordinator	$46,350.00
Office Manager	$44,646.96
Communications and Programming Assistant	$42,000.07
Communications Coordinator	$39,998.40
Administrative and Office Specialist II	$36,740.12
Editor	$14,560.00
Total	$6,924,279

James Madison University

In 2021, James Madison University established Diversity Council Chairs (DCC):

The James Madison University Diversity Council Chairs represent 18 different diversity councils across campus. These diversity councils provide a vehicle for the semination and creation of university and departmental diversity initiatives. Each college and division have their own diversity council from which a representative attends the monthly university council meetings.

These DCC were set up, it seems, as permanent positions, and so employees with these university-level chairs are included in the count of DEI administrators for JMU. Such positions have been flagged in the right-hand column in the 2021 table.

James Madison University 2020

Position	Salary
History Department - Assoc Provost for Diversity	$140,080.00
Mathematics & Statistics - Interim Auh and Professor	$136,750.00
University Programs – Professor	$134,239.00
Avp - Wellness, Orient.; Me - Avp, Stu Affrs & Multicul Srvc	$129,071.00
University Programs - Asst Coord of Online Learning	$108,746.00
Cob-Differential Tuition - Visiting Assistant Professor	$108,212.00
Honors College - Associate Dean, Honors	$105,000.00
Access & Inclusion - Exec Dir Campus & Comnity Prgms	$ 99,819.00
Education Programs – Professor	$ 95,282.00
Cge International Programs - Senior Associate Executive Dir	$ 92,000.00
Centennial Scholars Prgm E&G - Exec Dir Stu Access & Inclu- sion	$ 91,396.00
Ctr For Multicultural Stu Srvs - Director,Cmss	$ 84,019.00
Integ. Science And Technology - Associate Professor	$ 83,895.00
Social Work – Professor	$ 83,595.00
Academic Student Services - Assistant Vice Provost	$ 82,312.00
Libraries - Head, Scholarly Communications	$ 81,771.00
Art Design & Art History - Professor	$ 77,731.00
English Department - Associate Professor	$ 73,175.00
Cge Intl Administration - Dir, International Cooperation	$ 63,036.00
Foreign Language Dept – Lecturer	$ 62,189.00
Ctr For Multicultural Stu Srvs - Associate Director, Cmss	$ 54,631.00
Ctr For Multicultural Stu Srvs - Assoc Dir, Multicultural Enga	$ 53,000.00
Cge Administrative Payroll - Asst. Dir., Int’l Cooperation	$ 49,000.00
Ctr For Multicultural Stu Srvs - Assistant Director	$ 48,410.00
Aux-Multicultural - Assistant Dir, Cmiss	$ 47,112.00
Ctr For Multicultural Stu Srvs - Fiscal Manager	$ 41,442.00
Access & Inclusion - Administrative Assistant	$ 41,027.00
Access & Inclusion - Middle School Coord	$ 40,246.00
Equal Opportunity - Executive Secretary	$ 38,035.00
Non-Credit Events - Comm and Mrktg Manager	$ 37,000.00
Aux-Multicultural - Administrative Assistant	$ 36,148.00
Total	$2,418,369.00

James Madison University 2021

Position	Salary	DCC
Dir, Intercoll Athletics	$269,942.00	1
Assoc VP, Business Srvcs	$194,286.00	1
Associate Dean, CISE	$156,798.00	1
AVP, HR/Trng/Performance	$152,808.00	1
Assoc Provost for Diversity	$147,084.00
Assoc Vice Provost, Uni Prgms	$140,951.00
AVP, Stu Affrs & Multicul Srvc	$135,525.00	1
Associate Vice President	$135,017.00	1
Exec. Dir. of FFPC	$133,424.00
Associate Dean	$130,200.00	1
Associate Dean, COB	$129,441.00	1
Associate Athletics Director	$120,794.00	1
State Comp Officer Dist Learn	$114,183.00
Visiting Assistant Professor	$113,623.00
Interim A Dean and Professor	$113,502.00
AVP Diversity, Equity & Inclus	$110,250.00
Associate Dean, Honors	$110,250.00
Assistant Dean	$104,812.00	1
Exec Dir Campus & Comnity Prgms	$104,810.00
Strat Research & Assess. Lib	$101,517.00	1
Special Advisor to the Dean	$100,046.00
Instr Fac,Prof,12,EG	$98,121.00	1
Senior Associate Executive Dir	$96,600.00
Exec Dir Stu Access & Inclusion	$95,966.00
Director, OSARP	$90,837.00
Director, CMSS	$88,220.00
Associate Professor	$88,090.00
Professor	$87,775.00
Assistant Vice Provost	$86,428.00
Head, Scholarly Communications	$85,860.00
Professor	$84,709.00
Professor	$81,841.00	1
Professor	$81,618.00
Assistant Director	$80,787.00
Associate Professor	$78,572.00	1
Assistant Professor	$70,600.00	1
Title IX Coordinator	$69,874.00
Associate Professor	$67,377.00	1
Lecturer	$65,298.00
Interim Assistant Dean	$62,457.00	1
Associate Director	$62,160.00
Associate Director, OSARP	$61,205.00
Associate Director, CMSS	$57,363.00
Assoc Dir, Multicultural Enga	$55,650.00
Asst. Coordinator, Title IX	$50,831.00
Assistant Dir, CMISS	$50,400.00
Assistant Director	$50,400.00
Asst Dir, Educational Programs	$50,400.00
Comm and Mrktg Manager	$48,563.00
Executive Assistant	$44,100.00
Fiscal Manager	$43,514.00
Stud Lrng Initiatives Coord.	$42,000.00
Coordinator - Restorative Prac	$42,000.00
Coordinator	$40,000.00	1
Coordinator-Substance Education	$40,000.00
Executive Secretary	$39,937.00
Administrative Assistant	$38,301.00
Administrative Assistant	$37,955.00
Title IX Operations Assistant	$34,650.00
Administrative Assistant	$32,544.00
Total	$5,302,266.00

Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech 2020

Position	Salary
Vice President	$351,333.00
Assoc Dean Equity & Engagement	$242,512.00
Asst Vice Pres Equity & Access	$195,090.00
Division Dir, Veh Sys & Safety	$177,255.00
Assoc Vp For Alumni Relations	$136,875.00
Director Of Strategic Planning	$120,500.00
Dir Of Hr, Div Of Stu Affairs	$110,000.00
Director Ada/ Compliance	$109,525.00
Dir, Compliance & Conflict Res	$106,500.00
Chief Advancement Officer, I&D	$103,000.00
Asst Provost Diversity Edu	$100,547.00
Assistant Provost	$95,000.00
Dir of Diversity And Inclusion	$93,000.00
Asst Director of Strategic Pln	$92,820.00
Public Relations & Comm Dir	$92,475.00
Dir of Diversity Engagement	$92,000.00
Chief of Staff	$92,000.00
Director of Diversity Programs	$90,000.00
Ada Campus Accessibility Archi	$87,000.00
Assistant Director	$85,000.00
Associate Vice Provost	$78,653.00
Senior Investigator	$78,000.00
Assoc Director Diversity Prog	$66,000.00
Director	$62,933.00
Senior Assoc Dir of Soar	$62,000.00
Sr Affirmative Action Spec	$60,500.00
Asst Professor of Practice Ay	$60,000.00
Faculty Fellow For Diversity,	$60,000.00
Ada Accommodation Specialist	$59,904.00
Ada Accom & Outreach Spec	$58,000.00
Lecturer Prof Cy	$57,000.00
El Centro Program Director	$55,620.00
Asst Dir, Supplier Diversity	$55,593.00
Director, Lgbtq+ Res Center	$55,000.00
Financial & Operations Manager	$55,000.00
Dir, Athletics Communications	$52,772.00
Program Manager for Cultural A	$51,500.00
Vtc Inclusion Coordinator	$51,375.00
Business Manager	$50,850.00
Senior Assistant Director	$50,100.00
Strategic Affairs Prog Mgr	$50,000.00
Data Manager	$48,000.00
Administrative Assistant	$40,578.00
Bcc Program Coordinator	$40,000.00
Divers. Initiatives Supp Spec	$39,050.00
Development Associate	$37,000.00
Total	$35,926.00
Admin Asst & Inclu Excel Coord	$4,043,786.00

George Mason University

George Mason University 2020

Position	Salary
Chief Diversity Officer Vse	$158,000.00
Dir Corley Inst Div Incl Edu	$154,500.00
Prof And Div Dir, Dlt	$141,903.00
Dir Fac Div Inc Well Being	$120,000.00
Dir Mid Atl Herc Div Outreach	$103,000.00
Dir Coalition Bldg Diversity Ed	$83,500.00
Asst Dean Dir Diversity Incl	$82,400.00
Equal Opportunity Specialist	$77,234.00
Exec Assistant and Office Mgr	$75,571.00
Eeo Diversity Specialist	$75,000.00
Student Success Inclusion Lib	$65,500.00
Div Fiscl Acad Stdnt Svc Coord	$54,500.00
Div and Communication Coord	$50,741.00
Frnt House Comm Incl Mngr Hpac	$46,000.00
Administrative Assistant	$18,720.00
Diversity & Inclusion Leader	$12,480.00
Student Diversity Trainer	$12,480.00
Student Diversity Trainer	$12,480.00
Dialogue and Difference Intern	$10,400.00
Dialogue and Difference Intern	$10,400.00
Total	$1,364,809.00

Old Dominion University

Old Dominion University 2020

Position	Salary
Director Of Equity Eo Aa	$92,000.00
Exec Dir, Intercultural Rel	$91,245.00
Dir of Diversity Initiatives	$90,921.00
Dir, Educational Accessibility	$72,441.00
Director Women’s Center	$70,546.00
Assoc Dir, Intl Initiatives	$60,951.00
Assoc Dir, Intercultural Relat	$58,890.00
Education & Athletic Supp Spec	$54,590.00
Coord, Learning & Programming	$48,223.00
Student Support Specialist	$43,832.00
Office Manager	$42,018.00
Coord, Testing/Assessment	$41,050.00
Office Manager/Asst to Avp	$36,750.00
Total	$803,457.00

Eastern Virginia Medical School

Eastern Virginia Medical School 2020

Position	Salary
Vice President, Diversity	$207,452.00
Assoc Professor	$128,732.00
Asst Dean Div Educational Prog	$98,843.00
Community Engagement Director	$89,981.00
Asst Director Diversity	$73,684.00
Executive Assistant	$ 61,746.00
Community Engagement Spec	$58,565.00
Total	$719,003.00

University of Mary Washington

Note: The University of Mary Washington does not report position titles in the source data. All titles have been entered here based on the UMW website information available.

University of Mary Washington 2020

Position	Salary
Vice President for Equity and Access and Chief Diversity Officer	$165,122.00
Title IX Coordinator (“Safe Zone Member”)	$76,003.00
Director of Multicultural Affairs	$63,657.00
Title IX Investigator (“Safe Zone Member”)	$60,364.00
Associate Director, Multicultural Center	$49,630.00
Assistant Director, Multicultural Center	$40,480.00
Total	$455,256.00

Radford University

Note: Radford University does not report position titles in the source data. All titles have been entered here based on the RU website information available.

Radford University 2020

Position	Salary
Director of Institutional Equity	$98,570.00
Interim Director, Diversity & Inclusion	$51,106.00
Compliance Specialist	$49,572.00
Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) Director	$40,226.00
Administrative Assistant	$25,786.00
Total	$265,260.00

Longwood University

Note: Longwood University does not report position titles in the source data. All titles have been entered here based on the LU website information available.

Longwood University 2020

Position	Salary
Dir- Multicultural Affairs	$63,611.00
Dir, Education & Prev Programs	$47,059.00
Admin Office Specialist III	$39,535.00
Asst Dir, Ldrshp & Multi Cultr	$38,338.00
Total	$188,543.00

Norfolk State University

Note: Norfolk State University does not report position titles in the source data. All titles have been entered here based on the NSU website information available.

Norfolk State University 2020

Position	Salary
Executive Director for Institutional Equity and EEO	$106,944.00
Civil Rights Investigator	$45,500.00
Total	$152,444.00

Christopher Newport University

Note: Christopher Newport University does not report position titles in the source data. All titles have been entered here based on the NSU website information available.

Christopher Newport University 2020

Position	Salary
Director of Title IX and Equal Opportunity	$110,376.00
Total	$110,376.00

University of Virginia’s College at Wise

University of Virginia’s College at Wise 2020

Position	Salary
Compliance Coordinator	$33,500.00
Total	$33,500.00

William and Mary College

William and Mary College 2020

Position	Salary
Chief Diversity Officer	$ 148,320.00
Dir, Ctr for Student Diversity	$ 78,280.00
Assoc Dean/Dir of Acad Enrch	$ 72,000.00
Assoc Dr Ctr Student Diversity	$ 62,500.00
Asst Dir for Student Diversity	$ 57,000.00
Total	$418,100.00

Policy Recommendations

The following recommendations represent initial, concrete steps to mitigate the harm being done at Virginia’s state schools. They should be brought to the attention of any state official but especially the legislature.

Defund ideological centers, programs, and institutions: We recommend the cessation of state funding of the most obviouslyideology-based centers and institutes; such units should be funded only through private donations and investment, not public monies, and they should not be on state school campuses.
Prohibit mandatory training in political ideology such as DEI: Students and faculty should never be required to attend ideological or political training sessions as a condition of enrollment or employment.
Prohibit “diversity statements” in hiring and promotion: The legislature should prohibit “diversity statements,” whichdiscourage applicants who reject DEI cant, degrade personnel processes, and make ideological conformity the basis of hiring and promotion. “Diversity statements” violate the rights to freedom of thought, speech, and conscience.
Impose budgetary constraints: The legislature must reduce funding of administrative positions to reduce the ratio of administrators to teaching staff and reduce the ratio of total administrator salary to teaching faculty salary, to favor teaching and instructional staff.
Prohibit DEI general education requirements: General education requirements for DEI courses should be prohibited.Students should no more be required to pass a course in DEI than they should be required to pass a course in fascism or Marxism.
Full transparency of university activity: The public has a right to know about the university activities they are funding,beyond merely salaries. All faculty and administrator curricula vitae (CVs), all course syllabi, and the organizational charts of each university should be current and available online at the university’s site at all times for examination by the public.
Biannual updates to the legislature on the progress of reform efforts: The legislature should also require that public colleges and universities report to it with updates on reform efforts to ensure progress is being made and determine whether more oversight and/or sanctions are needed.
Prohibit racial and sexual preferences in hiring, promotion, and student admission: The goal of manipulatingstudent and faculty demographics according to racial or sexual identity is inherently at odds with the goal of hiring the best faculty and admitting the best students. The legislature should prohibit all such racist and sexist practices.

Conclusion

Virginia is not alone in its concerns about the cost and politicization of public colleges and universities. Citizens in other states have also compiled data on higher-ed DEI expenditures, as well as on administrative bloat. (Reports like this one have been published for Maine, Idaho, North Carolina, and Tennessee.) Leftist ideology and administrative bloat are harmful to real education and make college prohibitively expensive.

Students then take out loans to cover these inflated costs. Schools and their bureaucrats are enriched, while graduates and their families are impoverished.

Governmental and non-governmental organizations are also beginning to take note, including to study the job readiness—or lack of such readiness—of graduates.

In sum, Virginia higher education urgently needs reform. It must stop alienating students from their country and civilization with poisonous DEI ideology and the expensive apparatchik bureaucrats who impose it.

The Virginia Association of Scholars hopes this report will prompt that reform in Virginia and elsewhere.

“Universities and colleges have created a cottage industry of people who profit from indoctrinating America’s future leaders with a dangerous anddestructive ideology.”
–Carol Swain and Robert L. Woodson in Red, White and Black: Rescuing American History from Revisionists and Race Hustlers (Encounter Books, 2021).

“What I have seen from the diversity, equity and inclusion programs has been almost always a very divisive type of approach that results inaccentuating rather than decreasing racial and ethnic tension ... The last thing students need is another indoctrination program where minorities are made to feel like victims and then white people are told how they are responsible for all of the sins of the world. That takes us nowhere.”
–Carol Swain, Professor Emeritus, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee Star, 2020.

“Today as in the past, diversity is essentially a fancy word for group quotas ... to admit students to colleges and universities according to their group membership, rather than according to their individual qualifications.”
–Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institution, “The Diversity Fraud,” Capitalism Magazine, 2020