The University of Virginia (UVA) reportedly spends $20 million on at least 235 Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) employees, some of whom make a staggering $587,340 per year.
The university’s 2023 payroll file revealed that the top-paid DEI executive was Martin N. Davidson, senior associate dean of the Darden School of Business & global chief diversity officer, who earned $452,000, or $587,340 including benefits, according to documents obtained by Zerohedge.
The second top-paid DEI executive was Kevin G. McDonald, the vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion and community partnerships, who raked in $401,465, or an estimated $520,000 with benefits.
Statue of Thomas Jefferson in front of The Rotunda on the campus of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by: Robert Knopes/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Others in DEI leadership roles — vice presidents, associate or assistant deans, directors, assistant directors, and managers — earned up to $312,000, or $400,000 with benefits.
Rachel Spraker, an assistant vice president for equity & inclusive excellence who once described the opioid epidemic in Appalachia as an example of “white toxicity,” earned $186,800, or $242,840 with benefits.
For comparison, the outlet noted that Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), earned $175,000.
Notably, highly compensated DEI executives at universities are generally non-teaching staffers.
There exists 187 UVA employees and students dedicated to “assist and monitor all units of the University in their efforts to recruit and retain faculty, staff, and student from historically underrepresented groups and to provide affirmative and supportive environments for work and life,” Zerohedge reported.
The taxpayer-funded university has several agencies committed to advancing the DEI agenda, including an Equity Center, an Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, a Multicultural Student Services office, an Office of Diversity & Engagement, and a Center for Diversity, all of which total to 155 DEI employees.
Another 48 DEI-related employees were reportedly found in the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center, Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, Office of African American Affairs, and Center for Global Health Equity.
An additional 31 employees work in DEI-related positions “sprinkled throughout other departments” at UVA, the outlet noted, saying that DEI has infiltrated the Urology Department, Occupational Programs, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, among other areas.
Documents also reveal that the Women, Gender and Sexuality Department consists of 10 professors who made a collective $857,103 last year, or $1.1 million with benefits, and that the Psychology Department had 87 employees who made a collective $8.4 million, or $11 million with benefits.
In the meantime, UVA doesn’t appear to be publicly admitting how many DEI-related employees the school actually has.
Last year, for example, Kevin G. McDonald, the University of Virginia’s vice president for diversity, told the New York Times that UVA had only 40 DEI staffers. In another example, a presentation last year to the Board of Visitors claimed the school had just 55 DEI employees.
While UVA spends $20 million on DEI initiatives, the University of Florida has fired all of its DEI-related employees, saving $5 million per year.
As Breitbart News reported, an internal email sent from university officials to faculty and staff announced that the school was closing its “Office of the Chief Diversity Officer,” eliminating “DEI positions and administrative appointments,” and halting “DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors” in order to comply with the Florida Board of Governance’s regulations on prohibited expenditures.
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