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Dismantling DEI: A Foucauldian Analysis of Power in the University of North Carolina System
Sat, August 8, 4:00 to 5:30pm, TBAAbstract
In the Spring of 2024, the University of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Governors voted to repeal all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the name of “institutional neutrality.” The University Governance Committee unanimously approved the proposed supersession from the April meeting’s consent agenda in less than four minutes, with the full board vote in May solidifying the end of DEI. This qualitative study aims to understand how behind-the-scenes operations of university governance shape the policy changes within the UNC System, specifically through analyzing the supersession of DEI. Guided by asking how power functions in the supersession process of higher education, a narrative mapping and media analysis of how the repeal was proposed, approved, and enforced will be conducted to chronologically organize how it unfolded. Further, several interview sessions will be held with journalists who have covered this policy change in addition to a student-run organization, TransparUNCy at UNC Chapel Hill. DEI continues to become a tool for political polarization through public higher education governance. The power dynamic behind the scenes of board governance as well as connections to politicians, lobbyists, and donors appears to play a large role in what policies are churned out of the UNC System. Furthermore, DEI’s societal relevance could be a modern-day representation of Michel Foucault's power-knowledge cycle. Knowledge is consistently redefined and reinforced through dominant sociopolitical trends and education systems, but is simultaneously produced by power; therefore, those with power create the systems through which we educate. Nonetheless, because power circulates through all levels of society, resistance is inherent to power.