In July of 2020, UNC-Chapel Hill’s chancellor sent an email to the university’s leadership cabinets requesting responses to three questions regarding “structural racism.” Through public records requests, the Martin Center obtained a copy of the many responses submitted over the following days by Chapel Hill’s academic and administrative units. Our previous article on this subject introduced the chancellor’s DEI questionnaire and examined some of the more extreme proposals supplied by respondents. Below, we look in greater detail at the “solutions” proposed by Chapel Hill’s various divisions and schools.
The questions posed by Chancellor Guskiewicz were as follows:
1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Carolina’s scholarly, co‐curricular, administrative and service efforts to identify and eliminate structural racism on our campus and beyond?
2. What should we be doing/what can you do to stand against structural racism and stand for equity within our/your school/unit?
3. How can we learn from and partner with other schools/units, institutions, organizations or communities in the region to be agents of change against structural racism?
The original email was sent to 40 people and garnered 38 responses. Those who submitted responses included (but were not limited to) the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, the Kenan-Flagler Business School, the School of Information and Library Science, the UNC School of Government, the Office of the Provost, the UNC School of Nursing, the UNC School of Medicine, the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, and the UNC School of Law.
Nearly all of the replies to Chancellor Guskiewicz’s questions were long-winded word salads.