(The Center Square) – The former head of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Education Achievement gave lump sum awards to 85% of staff in late 2023 amounting to $218,750 without consultation, according to a new audit of the department’s expenses.
The audit called the payments “an extremely concerning example of this behavior” leading to the demotion of UW-Madison Chief Diversity Officer LaVar Charleston, who was moved from that position back to being a clinical professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis in the School of Education.
“I am incredibly concerned that the only reason these findings came to light is because of a legislature-initiated audit of DEI practices,” said Senate President Mary Felzkowski. “The university should be ashamed, students should be outraged, and taxpayers should be disgusted.”
The questionable financial decisions extended to travel and expense decisions.
The audit showed that those expenses totaled $4.35 million, over double pre-pandemic expenditures, for fiscal years 23 and 24 combined.
The average per-employee spending was the single highest among all campus divisions.
Supplies expenses, including office furniture, promotional items, and electronics, nearly doubled in fiscal years 2023 and 2024 compared to fiscal year 2019.
“As is evident across the DEI scam, funds and efforts to purportedly help underserved populations often end up subsidizing the lifestyles of those at the top,” Felzkowski said. “How much of the increased travel expenditures were for Mr. Charleston to join his wife, the Chief Diversity Officer at Harvard?”
In response, the university changed its financial reporting requirements and put the Finance department in charge of the department’s financial decision-making.
Pay increases were also rampant in the department with 72 lump sum salary increases, 89% of division employees, exceeded 3% of the employee’s base salaries with 53% of those employees already receiving a lump sum performance payment within the year.
