Watchdog urges investigation of UNC Wilmington for rebranding DEI

Watchdog group Protect the Public's Trust on Thursday called on the federal government to investigate UNC Wilmington for allegedly rebranding their "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" policies to hide their continuation.

"We write to you to alert you of an effort by officials within the University of North Carolina system to continue their practice of imposing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) on their students, despite perceived steps to end that practice," the watchdog wrote to the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice in a letter obtained by Just the News.

Protect the Public's Trust alleged in May 2024, the UNC Board of Governors voted to repeal its DEI policies, and to instead focus on equality. 

The watchdog states that while UNC Wilmington did shut down its Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, there were no layoffs conducted and posts were instead renamed. Employees were allegedly caught on tape admitting that while there are no "outward" DEI jobs, they were renamed to get around the DEI brand. 

"An official with Wilmington’s LGBTQIA Resource Center was recorded saying UNC Wilmington was “trying to be a little sneaky, I feel like, with certain things in the plan.” Although it acknowledged the recording, UNCW seems to have done nothing to address the actions it revealed," the watchdog said in a statement. 

The Department of Education under President Donald Trump has stated that public schools and colleges would lose federal funding if they kept DEI practices.

Protect the Public's Trust alleged that DEI goes against Title VI and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.

"Several of these officials were recorded speaking about these efforts, where they describe rebranding DEI work, DEI jobs, and DEI spending in order to work around bans on DEI," the group said. "DEI is inherently racially discriminatory and runs afoul of Title VI and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act."