A new report from the University System of Georgia paints a complicated picture of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, but stops short of providing a statewide spending total.
After the Georgia General Assembly cut $66 million from the USG’s 2024 budget, Chancellor Sonny Perdue voiced his disappointment with the move. In turn, Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones wanted to know how much the USG spends on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Perdue responded in nearly 200 pages, writing that the Georgia Board of Regents’ affirmation of its commitment to academic freedom and free expression supports the notion that the USG values intellectual diversity. He also said that institutions are doing more than “what some may view as controversial about DEI,” according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
Perdue didn’t offer a total of all 26 institutions’ spending but provided information about salaries and programming. Georgia Tech, for example, was reported to have $8 million in its annual budget, including a vice president of DEI with a $280,000 salary.
