The audit did find what I suspected: DEI is most charitably described as complex. It’s less charitably described as a mess. State government provides no clear guidance from the top about what DEI should be. The UW is so loosely managed that each campus and department could define it anyway it wanted. On the Madison campus DEI ran amok with its leader, LaVar Charleston, doling out huge raises without justification as well as spending lavishly on conferences, hotels and even haircuts and massages. And that was only discovered thanks to this audit. One thing is for sure and it goes beyond DEI: the UW’s internal management is too weak. There’s too much autonomy granted to campuses and to departments within campuses. Sometimes you need more autonomy and sometimes you need more top down. Right now the UW needs more command and control.
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Much more on DEI / DIE.
