Campus News

Major University Pays More Than $18 Million To Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Staff

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• The University of Michigan (UM) pays more than $18 million per year to fund 142 diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff members, according to UM emeritus professor Mark Perry.
• UM increased its DEI staff 53% between the 2018-2019 and 2022-2023 academic year.
• “Those misguided and expensive DIE resources could be better spent by reducing tuition instead of feeding new layers of costly administrative bloat that end up getting passed along to students in the form of higher tuition and fees,” Perry told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The University of Michigan (UM) spends more than $18 million annually to support its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff, according to an analysis of public salary records by UM emeritus professor Mark Perry.

UM pays a total of $18,120,242 to support more than 142 staff members who work to promote DEI initiatives on campus during the 2022-2023 school year, according to data analyzed by Perry. The total equals the amount it would take to cover the cost of in-state tuition for 1,075 students, he told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“In my opinion, most colleges like UM are spending way too much money on DIE efforts, and it’s incredibly wasteful because those efforts are part of advancing the new DIE religion in higher education and directly contradict the core mission of a university – to educate students, teach critical thinking and expose them to intellectual diversity – in favor of pursuing misguided goals of social justice, racial justice, and gender justice,” Perry told the DCNF. “Those misguided and expensive DIE resources could be better spent by reducing tuition instead of feeding new layers of costly administrative bloat that end up getting passed along to students in the form of higher tuition and fees.”

@UMich now employs 142 “diversicrats” at an annual cost of $18M (total compensation) = in-state tuition for 1,075 students. Highest paid diversicrat is Tabbye Sellers @$380K+fringe benefits. Avg. = $97K and 44 make > $100K + fringe benefits. 10 years ago, UM diversicrats<20. pic.twitter.com/xU1PISR8Br

— Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) January 5, 2023

UM expanded their DEI staff members by 53% between the 2018-2019 and the 2022-2023 academic year, according to Perry’s analysis.

Only 82 “diversicrats” were employed during the 2018-2019 academic year and cost the university $10.6 million. The university increased the number of staff to 126 during the 2021-2022 academic year which cost $15.6 million.

Perry reported that he could not find a UM staff position with the words “diversity,” “equity” or “inclusion” in the job title until the 2004-2005 academic year. Positions which fit the bill have increased since 2015, according to a graph Perry provided to the DCNF.

He said that the number of positions has “metastasized like a cancer.”

Number of UM-Ann Arbor Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Staff (Carpe Diem AEI)

The highest-paid DEI-focused staff member is Tabbye Chavous Sellers, UM’s Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion who is married to the former DEI provost Robert Sellers, according to UM’s salary disclosure data. Sellers makes $380,000.

In total, 44 staff members make more than $100,000 in base salary, 95 make more than $100,000 in total compensation and 17 make more than $200,000 in total compensation, Perry reported.

“I don’t think any university chief ‘diversicrats’ in the country make $380,000 or $430,795, that is highly unusual. I also don’t think many colleges have 142 highly-paid diversicrats, so UM stands out as maybe the university with the greatest number of diversicrats and with the highest paid diversicrats in the country,” Perry told the DCNF.

In December 2021, Perry tweeted that The Ohio State University employed 132 DEI-focused staff during the 2021-2022 academic year. That number of staff cost $13.4 million, which could cover the cost of in-state tuition for 1,120 students.

The University of Michigan and Sellers did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.