UW-Madison DEI spending, leader's 'judgment' questioned: records
University of Wisconsin-Madison
MADISON, Wis. - A new internal report details a "significant lapse in judgment and fiscal responsibility" by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's previous chief diversity officer.
The backstory:
UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin removed Lavar Charleston from his post in January. He remains on campus as a faculty member.
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Internal report outlines spending
Dig deeper:
FOX6 News obtained the report through an open records request. It said Charleston gave the majority of his employees raises between 10% and 23% without justification as state lawmakers were cracking down on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within the Universities of Wisconsin system.
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Additional records show Charleston spent $18,000 on massage therapy for students and $21,000 on a conference in Lake Geneva. The report added his per-employee spending was the highest on campus.
In December, Charleston wrote that a former provost instructed him to spend a $6 million surplus.
Trump and DEI
Big picture view:
Those records were released as President Donald Trump’s campaign to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs nationwide targets more than 50 universities – including UW-Madison – for alleged racial discrimination.
According to a news release from the U.S. Education Department, the agency issued a memo warning America’s schools and colleges that they could lose federal money over "race-based preferences" in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.
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Trump and other critics of DEI programs say they exclude white and Asian American students.
The memo is being challenged in federal lawsuits from the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions. The suits say the memo is too vague and violates the free speech rights of educators.
The Source: FOX6 News obtained information in this report from documents obtained via an open records request. This report also references information from The Associated Press, the U.S. Department of Education and LiveNOW from FOX.