Straws in the Wind - Part 362

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: In his first interview since being named the sole finalist for the University of Florida’s presidency, Stuart Bell on Friday defended his past diversity initiatives at the University of Alabama as an effort to boost in-state enrollment and described colleges’ explicit goals of recruiting more minority students as a form of “segregation.”

“When we talk about DEI and the criticisms we all hear and agree with, we think of segregation, in terms of keeping students away from certain areas,” Bell said in an interview with Salem News Channel, a conservative news network. “Those are certainly what DEI became at some places in the country. That certainly was not our focus at the University of Alabama.” Conservative activists, prominent Republican lawmakers, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have called for Bell’s candidacy to be rejected because of his diversity efforts as president of the University of Alabama, which they say led to pervasive discrimination against white students and faculty...

Bell plans to visit the University of Florida’s campus next week to speak with students, faculty, and administrators ahead of his interview with the Board of Trustees on June 10. If Bell is confirmed by the trustees, he will go before the Florida Board of Governors for final confirmation later this summer.

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/vying-for-the-u-of-florida-presidency-stuart-bell-compares-colleges-diversity-efforts-to-segregation.