“Insider” report details how DEI is embedded into every department at UF

BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A report on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) initiatives at the University of Florida provided to Alachua Chronicle by a UF “insider” describes a number of programs and positions, many of which were not reported by the university in response to a request from the governor for information about the expenditure of state resources on programs and initiatives related to DEI and CRT in state colleges and universities.
Although UF reported a total of $5,333,914 in spending on DEI initiatives, with $3,381,330 of that funded by the state, the insider’s report claims that the university’s response omits numerous individuals and initiatives that promote DEI and CRT programs that are being forced upon faculty, staff, and students campus-wide, in almost every department and college.
Although DEI initiatives are promoted as being about diversity and inclusion, these programs have been found to promote core concepts of CRT that promise to achieve “equity” by favoring certain identity groups (based on race, gender identity, and sexual preference) in the name of “diversity” over merit, while discriminating against other groups. DEI materials also urge members of certain identity groups to acknowledge their “privilege” and the historic role of their own identity group in oppressing other groups.

Chief Diversity Officer
At the top of UF’s DEI food chain is the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer (CDO), which works with 33 Campus Diversity Liaisons (CDLs). Most of the CDLs are members of the leadership team of each college or business unit on the campus. UF’s report to the governor included a little over $1 million in salaries for the CDO office, and only three departments listed salaries for the CDLs; however, the insider’s report shows that most of these CDLs do not carry official DEI titles in their job description despite their extensive work in pushing DEI and CRT initiatives.
By contrast, the insider’s report found that all 16 colleges at UF have DEI committees or programs, and ten of them have dedicated DEI personnel. The CDO also manages UF’s Anti-Racism Initiative and coordinates with UF’s Human Resources Department, which encourages all employees to complete its Inclusive Hiring certification program that promotes DEI as its foundational element. In addition, the CDO works with the Division of Student Life, which manages the Center for Inclusion & Multicultural Engagement, which reported $423,084 in funding ($358,084 funded by the state).
25 faculty or staff with DEI titles
Based on the insider’s report, UF has 25 faculty or staff with official DEI titles, with salaries totaling more than $3.32 million. These individuals are responsible for implementing DEI initiatives within their respective colleges or departments and institutionalizing DEI programs into every facet of UF, from admissions to hiring practices to classroom instruction. A majority of the 25 DEI personnel were hired in the 2021-2022 academic year, with those who previously held other positions at UF receiving an average pay increase of 22%; others saw a jump in salary as high as 54%. These DEI faculty/staff work in partnership with the other CDLs to coerce other students, faculty, and staff into participating in DEI training programs, policies, and procedures or face a real risk of not advancing in their careers.
Two DEI staff members make $300,000 or more: CDO Marsha McGriff makes $300,000, and Madeline Joseph, the Associate Dean for Inclusion and Equity for the College of Medicine in Jacksonville, makes $387,806. One staff member makes over $200,000, and six make over $150,000.
Hiring
UF’s Human Resources Department has implemented a three-step process to incorporate DEI training into all hiring practices: Faculty and staff are encouraged to complete a series of “Inclusive Hiring” courses to become certified with an “Inclusive Hiring Badge,” and any UF entity that is hiring is instructed to use the “Inclusive Hiring Toolkit.”

Instruction
UF’s Center for Instructional Technology and Training offers a “Teaching for Inclusivity and Accessibility Certificate” to train instructors on “how to reach a diverse set of students through the consideration of identity, equity, and access.”
Awards and recognition
UF offers numerous awards to recognize individuals’ commitment to DEI, including the Graduate Education Diversity Champion Award, Gator Nation LeaDErshIp Awards, and Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Awards.

College of Education
The College of Education lists diversity and equity as two of its top three core values. The college’s Letter from the Director opens by stating, “We begin this year recognizing challenges in increasingly politicized educational environments. Despite this, we stand by our core values of Diversity, Quality, Equity… Our School includes a broad range of programs… with areas that focus on… the societal and political influences on educational contexts.”

The College of Education also partners with Alachua County Public Schools and the National Science Foundation on a project called Culturally-Responsive Affective-Focused Teaching, which is only available to students who “identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).”
The College of Education has established a Collective for Black Student Advancement that has a list of action items including implementing a race-centered graduate degree specialization; increasing the number of race-centered courses across the college and requiring that all students complete at least one of these courses; hiring, promoting, and supporting black faculty; and ensuring that all black faculty are granted graduate faculty status.
The College of Education provides guidance on “Developing an Inclusive Syllabus” that includes this question: “Are the course assignments equitable and attainable by all students regardless of income, location, cultural background, etc., without putting any students in distress while attempting to complete an assignment?” Instructors are also encouraged to include “assignments and activities that are culturally relevant and inclusive.”
Courses in the College of Education include assignments on “Creating Classrooms that Address Race and Ethnicity,” “Conceptualizing Issues Related to Race in Schools,” and “Best Practices for Supporting LGBTQ Students.”

College of Journalism and Communications
The College of Journalism and Communications (CJC) has an Office of Diversity and Inclusion with a mission statement that includes promoting “the principles and best practices of diversity, inclusion and equity in all activities and programs of the College.”
CJC’s Diversity Strategic Plan has a goal to “Enhance [CDC’s] recruitment, retention, and placement of diverse and multicultural faculty, staff, and students.”
A one-minute video features a spokeswoman and students asking “different” people to apply for nine open faculty positions. The people in the video say, “We need you–and your different–at our college…. We need people that look like us and sound like us. We need something different… We have nine new faculty positions open, and we want them to be different. So if you’re different or know someone different, let it be known. We want ‘real’ at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications”
Courses in the CJC include “Media, Cultures, and Identity,” in which the professor reportedly pushes students to adopt beliefs about America’s “systemic racism” and concepts like oppression related to issues such as gender identity, “queer-theory,” transgenderism, and the ideas of Karl Marx. The Course Description says the course “will study the constructions of race, gender, sexuality, class, religion, and ability in media as well as the conditions of production that enable them.”
Course materials provided by the insider include slides that say, “Race isn’t biological, but racism is still real” and “Colorblindness will not end racism.” Another slide says, “Gender is not tied to sex or sexuality, but is a social construction” and “Gender is a kind of doing, a social action performed, in part, without one’s knowing and without one’s willing.”
College of Law
A message on the website of UF’s College of Law states that the college is “committed to fighting systemic racism.” A letter from Dean Laura Rosenbury says that “Anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and other forms of racism have deep roots in our society, including within the legal system and the legal profession.”
As a recent example of the importance the College of Law places on DEI, as opposed to challenging students to consider all sides of a legal argument, Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel visited a class at the College via Zoom on March 15, 2022. Before class, the professor sent an email to the class, letting them know that Liberty Counsel has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center “because of its extreme anti-LGBTQ+ ideology,” although she did not expect that topic to be part of the discussion, which was expected to focus on religious liberty. The professor told her students, “If you prefer to refrain from attending, I accept and understand your decision. I will excuse your absence as long as you notify me of your decision before class.”
Classes in the College of Law include “Social Justice Lawyering,” which “examines the meaning of social justice, structural factors that contribute to inequities in the legal system,” a “Gender Justice Clinic,” and a “Race and Justice” course, along with a “Critical Race Theory” seminar. The first assignment in the CRT class is to read Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility.
College of Medicine
As we previously covered in this article, a report from “Do No Harm” in November 2022 concluded that the UF College of Medicine is “indoctrinating its medical school graduates in divisive philosophies and other forms of social justice activism.”
The report notes that the Medical Admissions office at UFCOM makes its first impression on visitors to its website by displaying a photograph of medical students kneeling during a Black Lives Matter protest, holding a sign that reads #WhiteCoatsForBlackLives.
The statement on the website read, “BLACK LIVES MATTER! The UF College of Medicine Office of Admissions unequivocally condemns racism, injustice, and prejudice in all forms. We acknowledge the existence and persistence of systemic oppression and racism that endanger the lives of people of color. We strive for an admissions culture that is reflective, informed and inclusive, dedicated to building a diverse community of future physicians who share a commitment to excellence and equity in healthcare.”
The report notes that this image appeared on the website on October 26, 2022; the image and statement have since been removed, but the October 22 version can be viewed at the Wayback Machine site.

The website also linked to a June 2020 article, Resources for Combating Systemic Racism. In October, that page included this statement, “For those who want to learn more about systemic racism, self-education is key. Please do not further burden your Black friends and colleagues by asking them to expend the energy necessary to educate you. Rather, do the work and use existing resources to learn more on your own.” The article does not appear to be on the UFCOM website today, but the Wayback Machine site shows the previous version.
UFCOM’s Diversity Statement indicates that race and ethnicity will be considered in admissions to the program: “The College of Medicine will continually strive to promote, support and actively enhance the recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups to its student body, residency training programs, faculty and staff positions, in conjunction with the education in cultural humility of all trainees and healthcare providers.”
The report lists the learning objectives of required courses, including the principles of health equity, distributive justice, and ethics in healthcare law and policy. Another part of the curriculum focuses on “advancing health equity” with topics such as “Teach and practice medicine with cultural humility,” “Describe how social determinants of health influence patient health and health disparities,” and “Examine bias in healthcare delivery and research.” The page referenced by the report for this information is no longer available on UFCOM’s website.
UFCOM’s Code of Ethics includes standard elements like “Do no harm to our patients” but also includes three consecutive statements advising students to acknowledge “anti-racist” principles:
- Foster a just and inclusive community by speaking out against social injustice, racism, prejudice, and inequity.
- Strive to eliminate social barriers to health, health disparities, and inequality within our profession.
- Acknowledge and minimize our implicit and explicit biases as we relate to others.
UFCOM’s Diversity Statement instructs that “Senior leadership must publicly embrace, through broad, repetitive and effective communication, a definitive and unequivocal position that diversity, inclusion, and health equity is synonymous with excellence. The diversity, inclusion and health equity strategy must be communicated as a top down initiative in terms of defining this imperative for excellence.”
UF Health’s Youth Gender Clinic
The clinic within the UF Health Pediatric Endocrinology Department is headed by Dr. Michael Haller. In a media interview, Haller said that the team provides “gender-affirming treatment” to about 200 patients. A Tampa Bay Times article stated that UF Health is performing mastectomies on girls as young as 16 years old.
Residents in the Department of Pediatrics are now required to work (or at least shadow for a half day) in the Youth Gender Clinic during rotations.

The Department of Pediatrics is also partnering with Southern Legal Counsel to give attorneys access to children receiving care “to identify health-harming needs that create hardships for children and families.” Legal services are also provided to minors in the Youth Gender Program.
DEI Collaborations
The College of Arts, College of Medicine, and College of Education are collaborating to create a theater program for LGBTQIA+ youths between the ages of 13 and 18, sponsored by UF Health. The program was marketed through public high schools. The College of Education’s Mental Health Counselor Training Program provides “free mental health first-aid, confidential on-demand counseling, and referrals as needed,” and the program also partners with the Youth Gender Program.
Initiatives following the injunction against the “Stop WOKE Act”
Within a week after a judge enjoined the “Stop WOKE Act” (HB 7), UF’s Center for Inclusion & Multicultural Engagement began promoting DEI training sessions titled “Foundational Diversity Workshop,” “Antiracism Education,” “Inclusive Leadership,” “Understanding Bias,” and “Inclusive Gators Use Pronouns.” Students are encouraged to complete the courses to earn a “Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging for Students” certificate.
In that same week, UF funded a second round of research on racial disparities.
Recommendations
The insider told us he produced the report “to document the depth and breadth” in which DEI initiatives have embedded themselves at UF, the state’s flagship university. He said that as a result of these initiatives, faculty and staff fear losing their jobs and students are afraid they will be penalized academically if they speak up against these ideas.
The insider proposed forming a task force to thoroughly investigate DEI initiatives, performing an investigation into all grants and gifts in the past 5 years that include DEI requirements, establishing a “hotline” to report DEI programs that have not yet been identified or that try to go underground, enacting strong financial penalties for implementing DEI and CRT programs, passing legislation that defunds DEI training programs, and terminating media campaigns that promote the notion that racism and discrimination are systemic at UF.
CRT….what a boogeyman the right have created..it encompasses everything that involves caring about issues that doesn’t effect you directly.. the only reason it’s a issue when the George Floyd marches were going on it was fueled by White Faces voicing Change.. That scared 😱 them.. so instead of actually doing anything to change it they dressed Woke up as something Negative 🙄 cried about kids being Indoctrinated blah blah.. putting a end to the next generation learning how institutional racism works.. America 🇺🇸 was founded on borrowed land I guess… now parents rage when their kids learn the black national anthem.. 🙄 yikes..like us people of color had learn yours and the pledge of allegiance and white washed history..and we didn’t have the power to complain or destroy school boards.. smh.. sad 😔 yall can’t see the irony 😕..
Every country in history was founded on conquered land and slavery, cheap immigrant labor. Grow up. CRT is a ruse to create another bureaucracy, feed endless lawyers, and buy gullible voters forever. Fact.
GeeZus, it’s quite possible your ancestors sold your other ancestors to make some extra cash. May have been their father, maybe their mother…I guess that’s the part of history people like yourself prefer to blame on others. That’s not anything new. Now, instead of selling your children, it’s just abandoning them and hoping they can make it on the street because a parent doesn’t want to get them to school on time or make sure they know where their child is in the late night hours.
You managed to make it this long so count yourself blessed.
That’s not all people of color – some are thankful for the opportunities this country provides. Still others risk their lives to get into this country. Then there’s people like yourself; the whiners, bellyachers, unappreciative individuals who would rather tear apart the relationships that have been built rather than strengthening them. You may want to give a little time to listening to some of Morgan Freeman’s, Denzel Washington’s or Thomas Sowell’s words. They’re far wiser than than we are and much more appreciative than you.
On a side note, one of the great things about this country, you can still express your disagreement without getting your tongue cut out.
Not where we were, not where we want to be, but better than we used to be.
Sorry to inform you GeeZus but you missed the memo. The progressives and marxist are not saying that yes, CRT is real, it is being taught to all grades and that is a good thing. Keep up with the little commies, you’re falling behind with your propaganda
So exactly who sets up these obscene Salaries , Compensation ?
Boards to that bro..then they vote 🗳 on the funds allocated
PURGE THEM ALL. They violate the Constitution and individual merit.
UF is a sewer, as is the case with most institutions of “higher learning” in the US. The word “diversity” now equates to promulgating mediocrity or worse instead of merit, all in the name of social justice. There always has been and continues to be wonderful opportunities in America for ALL people with real talent. Those with little talent demand a better deal because they can scream and threaten, so overpaid “diversity officers” are hired to placate these incompetent loudmouthed boobs. USA is fast on its way to becoming a third world dump where everybody will have the equal and “equitable” opportunity to dumpster dive for food.
Yes, I’m sure it’s the “mediocrity”, “little talent”, and “incompetent boobs” that led UF to become a top 5 institution.
Top 5 in what? Getting drunk on campus? If you are not there studying medicine or engineering you are wasting your time. Most all the other programs are for intellectually stunted lazy cretins. When you graduate with your “woke” liberal arts degree and find yourself unable to get even a moderately good job, pacify yourself with the belief that you went to an alleged “top 5” university which is top 5 among a host of other bunko artist universities offering worthless bulls*** degrees from their diploma mill.
Or a law degree, or a MBA, or the number of teachers, nurses, actors, scientists, farmers and pharmacists… pretty sure they are all happy with their degrees from a nationally recognized institution. Stop letting republican trigger words show your ignorance to the world. Obviously you don’t have a degree or took many critical thinking classes.
I’m happy we hire farmers that think different and look different than me. I support my fellow farmers and welcome them from all color to all gender. I have things to teach and hope to never stop learning, even if it costs us a few dollars on the penny we will spend. How dare you question the sacrifice some of us had made – 40 years myself. My degree is not in medicine or engineering but I’m saving citrus fruit.
So kindly sit down and shut your mouth.
It’s a sad day to watch my red party play political games and fall trap to an agenda for a man that wants to be president. Shame on you and please do better! But it’s still great to be a gator!
Probably the same source that overanked Gainesville as a top city. What a joke.
Sorry but at this point no decent parent should want their child to attend UF or similar institution. They are all sewers of detestable non-intellectual muck. It is much better and more honorably paid, not to mention more challenging than sucking up to CRTrs to be a plumber, HVAC tech, etc. than to drink the CRT/DEI coolaid.
Most UF graduates are far too useless to become a plumber, welder or HVAC technician. The credentialed idiots will graduate with their worthless degrees in political science, art history, feminist studies, etc.,which will qualify them to get an assistant night manager’s job in some fast food dump. When your entire “education” is focused on virtue signaling in an institution that spends millions of dollars on hiring virtue signaling equity officers, you wind up a mentally disabled misfit thanks to the pablum puking culture of universities such as UF. It is simply repulsive that somebody is being paid over 300 grand a year to put on a phony show of “equity” theater while engineering and mathematics professors who actually know something get paid a comparative pittance. Equity and inclusiveness — the ascendancy and apotheosis of the leech in a depraved American society on its death bed.
Well said….
SO. UF did not report all of these programs to OUR Governor?
Is that CHEATING? MMM. Makes one wonder.
Will this report make it’s way to the Governor’s office?
Make happened to becoming a success on your own effort?
Wow, so much of state funds being used. Demand every cent that was outlined above be handed back or stripped from next year’s funds, then the same matching amount be withdrawn also, since they won’t need it next year either. So that’s $3.33 million plus $3.33 million for a total of $6.66 million that can be spent on state roads in the area!
Can the Governor do something about the city of GNV’s DEI department? Our local government is infiltrated with this Marxist wokeness…
The city of GNV needs to lower our GRU utility bills, not spend our tax money on DEI and voting on doubling their salaries…we should be hiring on merit and who’s best qualified.
I don’t care what color you are or if you’re queer lgbqxyz, etc…you could even be a donkey…
Whoever is best qualified for the job. The race & sex box should be removed from employment applications. The DEI department is there to perpetuate inequality. God & the US constitution guarantees that we are all equal…these DEI
Departments are UN & WEF creeping Marxism implemented at the local level. What’s the endgame? New world order, one world government. People are so stupid that they give up liberty & freedom for a perceived “greater good” and this utopian Idea to end world hunger, end homelessness, redistribute the wealth, take away private property rights, stop climate change with CO2 regulation, digital cash, take away your right to defend yourself…what’s their motto? “You will own nothing and be happy”.
You will be forced to get vaccinations and have a VAX passport in order to travel. The globalists plan will fail if you don’t
Comply with WHO mandates…they want the power to shut the entire planet down and that would interfere with supply chains and then everything collapses…then they put the new system in place…new world order, “the prison planet”. Total control and surveillance.
Calling one’s self “woke” is just a pretext for what is below the surface — dysfunctional degeneracy. Thanks in part to UF’s corrosive influence, Gainesville has become a mostly depraved culture of degenerate losers, freaks and crybabies. All this yapping about being woke is a just a tale being told by idiots, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. Some of the incompetent misfits who come out of the UF degree mill wind up in local government, ready to pursue their career as parasites bleeding the taxpayers into poverty.
Oh well said sir, and accurate. I’m so glad I don’t live in the city though the county commission isn’t a whole lot better.
Regarding the news article, the detailed breakdown of DEI presence in UF’s colleges does appear to weigh heavily on identity over merit at least in the language each college uses.
If ‘equitable inclusion’ is the goal, then what is the racial makeup of UF’s DEI hires/promotions to promote the ideology?
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” – Chief Justice John Roberts, 2007
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is the legal authority prohibiting discrimination which, functionally, is what UF is doing under the cover of a self-defined, morally just intent. That is political action outside the scope – and, arguably, violating – of the democratically legislated Title VII.
CRT and racism have a common flaw; they are, in themselves, beliefs and protected speech in government and government funded venues, like UF. To have one is to invite both which leaves the question, is UF, or any school, the proper place to approach and resolve social issues which have plagued mankind for centuries rather than equip the best qualified to advance mankind?
Does UF’s Athletic Director have a DEI and, if so, how does that line with decisions based upon the race of scholarship players? Or, could that be based on merit/performance?
These are all questions asked outside UF and rightly so since trusting such enterprises to self-police themselves invites intellectual corruption being the only product paid for through student loans brokered by the same enterprises.
Yes, I too have always wondered where the cries for “equality” go when it comes to sports teams.
They are beliefs, but more akin to new age religious beliefs than something to be taken seriously in the realm of academia. More akin to Scientology and the money-making book Dianetics. In other words – a scam. We don’t need DEI Priests any more than UF needs a High Priest of Scientology.
Great article and investigative reporting. It’s good to be able to have
the forum to read and make comments. Thanks for supporting free speech and diversity of thought.
It’s good to have open dialog…this is the only way to achieve peace…Through Freedom & Liberty.Thanks
Alachua Chronicle!
This entrenchment has taken many years to reach this level.
It appears Dr. McGriff needs a raise. Her ill fitting outfit needs to be upgraded to a larger size.
Pigs at the Trough
Are you speaking of yourself? You must be because there is no way you’re speaking about anyone else…
That’s absolutely a disgusting thing to say!! Did it make you feel better to try and tare her down?
The hiring on campus is a sickening mix of feel good vocabulary and in-the-know dog whistles (“what is your philosophy on disabilities?”) There’s a question you’re given during a zoom interview with 6 or 7 people watching your reaction. You better be smooth or forget it.
Strip the whole process clean.
Where did you hear this? I’ve had several interviews and held multiple positions at UF in different colleges… this has never once happened or have heard this question when interviewing others. Stop spreading fake news and contributing to ignorance.
Yeah I’m pretty curious too lol. I also have worked at UF for many years. I’m a citrus farmer, I’ve advised students and held administration positions. I’ve never had an interview on Zoom, my last one two weeks ago not a single person asked me questions regarding DEI or “disabilities” nor did a control group watch my reaction to topics. I think you lied for attention in your comment.
So like Laura, I’d really like to know your experiences as to how this happened to you. Or did you make this up to be relevant for an article that makes zero sense.
I’m happy we hire farmers that think different and look different than me. I support my fellow farmers and welcome them from all color to all gender. I have things to teach and hope to never stop learning, even if it costs us a few dollars on the penny we will spend. How dare you question the sacrifice some of us had made – 40 years myself. My degree is not in medicine or engineering but I’m saving citrus fruit. So kindly sit down and shut your mouth.
It’s a sad day to watch my red party play political games and fall trap to an agenda for a man that wants to be president. Shame on you and please do better! But it’s still great to be a gator!
All the kneeling with eyes closed and hands lifted up sort of proves it is a religion.
And of course UF didnt report everything to the Governor’s Office. UF for years has covered up something or excluded factual material when requested. They are worse than Disney on being truthful to the State of Florida.
UF may have intentionally failed to report everything to the Governor’s office… Those departments should be fined and lose state funding…if they intentionally did it, it may be criminal.
“Embedded” is the wrong word… Liberals are working and donating Money to the Folks who keep the DEI policy in place.. They are called Democrat Professors and Donors..
You know the entire BOTs are conservative right lol. They state and board approves all appropriations. You are so far off base. Fake news.
I’m a little confused here – what was left off of the report? You just explained everything that was reported and can be viewed. What exactly is the missing funding and positions? Fake news.
Confused? You sound gender challenged. Are you trinery? Do you identify as a bump on a log? Perhaps too much UF woke brainwashing.?
You must be speaking to yourself when you typed that. Does it make you feel good to try and tare down another human being? How disgusting!
Tear, not tare!
Amazing that an adult cannot spell…