Each year, colleges spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, some even millions, in an effort to foster more diverse campuses. Universities allocate funds for diversity centers, peer groups, and inclusivity measures all designed to make non-traditional and minority students feel more welcome.

What is unknown, however, is whether or not these pricey diversity efforts actually pay off.

At the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), diversity-focused employees cost over $3 million annually.

At the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), diversity-focused employees cost over $3 million annually, according to 2017 salary records obtained by Campus Reform from the University of California Office of the President.

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Campus Reform paired these names and salaries with names and titles listed on the UCLA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion webpage, which lists the various “teams” focused on advancing the equity, diversity, and inclusivity of the campus. In total, of those listed in both the salary data and on the university’s website, Campus Reform found that UCLA pays these employees a combined annual total of $3,256,461 in gross wages.

Diversity-focused staff included in this analysis and listed on the EDI webpage are employed in one of five campus offices: the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Discrimination Prevention Office, Title IX Office, BruinX (an “internal, multi-disciplinary think tank”), and Equity Advisors.

Equity Advisors are representatives from each UCLA school and department who “take leadership on matters of equity, diversity, and inclusion within their institution." It is unclear whether employees in these positions are full-time or merely staff who, in addition to their main campus functions, occupy these roles on a part-time basis.

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Campus Reform contacted UCLA to clarify whether the position of Equity Advisor is a primary or auxiliary role but received no response in time for publication. For the purposes of accuracy, the salaries of Equity Advisors were not considered in this report. Had the Equity Advisors’ salaries been counted, the gross wages earned would have totaled $6.7 million, rather than $3.2 million.

Seven employees who are listed as working on one of these teams were not included in the most recently available salary data, which is from 2017. Those seven individuals’ salaries were not included in the final total.













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