{"id":3756,"date":"2023-06-23T14:31:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T14:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=3756"},"modified":"2023-06-23T14:59:22","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T14:59:22","slug":"the-other-problem-with-uw-dei-programs-they-dont-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=3756","title":{"rendered":"The other problem with UW DEI programs: They don\u2019t work"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.badgerinstitute.org\/uw-dei-programs-dont-work\/<\/a><\/p>\n

If the vast UW System Diversity, Equity and Inclusion effort \u2014 which costs approximately $32 million biennially \u2014 is so necessary, why is it such a failure?<\/p>\n

The stated mission of the UW System\u2019s Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion is so general as to be meaningless.<\/p>\n

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\"Scrabble<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The office, according to its website<\/a>, is supposed to implement a \u201cstrategic vision that cultivates inclusive and supportive learning and working environments\u201d and ensure that there are resources to \u201cimprove the human condition for all, especially those of diverse racial and ethnic identities, nationalities, social and economic status, sexual orientations, gender identity\/expressions, ages, physical and mental abilities, religious beliefs or political ideologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

UW-Madison is, of course, the flagship campus of the System. Its Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement\u2019s priority is a little more specific<\/a> and includes increasing \u201caccess for underrepresented minorities in STEM\u201d and eliminating \u201cthe achievement gap between majority and underrepresented students.\u201d<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s start there.<\/p>\n

The ultimate measure of achievement \u2014 and I would argue the only one that really matters when you\u2019re a student with huge tuition bills and a yearning for a job \u2014 is whether you graduate.<\/p>\n

DEI programs are supposed to help a variety of \u201cunderrepresented\u201d students, but let\u2019s focus on Black students today. The low number of Black students<\/a> graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree at UW-Madison is a travesty \u2014 and, despite an enormous DEI bureaucracy, it\u2019s not getting better.<\/p>\n

According to 2022 US Census figures, 6.6% of Wisconsin is \u201cBlack or African-American alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the 2021-22 school year, 146 Black students earned a Bachelor\u2019s degree at UW-Madison. That\u2019s less than 2% of the 7,460 students who earned a degree at that campus that year. The number of graduates fluctuates a little year to year but that is only three more Black students than the 143 who earned a Bachelor\u2019s degree in 2011-12.<\/p>\n

UW-Madison is also failing to successfully bring many Black students through STEM disciplines.<\/p>\n

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math and encompasses a variety of areas. Only six Black students earned a Bachelor\u2019s degree in Computer and Information Science and Support Services, for example; 16 in Engineering; 19 in Biological and Biomedical Sciences; four in Math.<\/p>\n

Madison is by far the largest campus in the System, but typically enrolls and graduates only about one-fourth of all UW students. System-wide, including Madison, 26,529 students earned Bachelor\u2019s degrees during the school year 2021-22. Approximately 2.4%, 645, were Black. That\u2019s up from 534 in 2011-12 so, to be fair, there has been an increase from a very low number.<\/p>\n

Madison wasn\u2019t the only campus to confer very few degrees on Black students in 2021-22.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n