Connecticut’s community colleges and state universities are spending $4.2 million per year on salaries for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) coordinators and staff for 34 full-time and 37 part-time employees, according to information supplied by the Connecticut State Colleges and University system (CSCU).

Connecticut State Community College opened their Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) in 2021 following pilot programs and research that began in 2020. John-Paul Chaisson-Cardenas, Ph.D., vice-president of diversity, equity, and inclusion, heads up DEI Office for Connecticut State Community College, which has four other staff members, and there are DEI coordinator positions at each of the state’s 12 community colleges.

Connecticut’s four state universities created offices of diversity, equity, and inclusion, although the number of staff for each campus office differs. In total, salaries for DEI staff at Connecticut’s community colleges amounted to $1.9 million in 2023 and $2.2 million for Connecticut’s public universities. Combined, the total staffing costs account for .3 percent of CSCU’s $1.3 billion in total expenditures.

According to CSCU, many of the DEI staff and their work are combined with staff’s existing duties, although there is “some variation.” According to a review of DEI staff, many are also professors actively teaching on campus, and their role as DEI coordinators is “to help coordinate DEI work across the state.”

Some positions that existed before the creation of ODEI, like Title IV coordinators and campus accessibility coordinators, were rolled into the ODEI and are required by both the federal government, the state, and Connecticut’s Board of Regents policy. According to CSCU, the positions in some form, pre-dated creation of the ODEI.

Chaisson-Cardenas earned $196,584 in 2023 for heading up ODEI at CT State Community College. The average salary for a DEI coordinator at Connecticut’s community colleges is roughly $93,000, although many of those positions are duties in addition to their regular college duties. 

Among vice-presidents of DEI at Connecticut’s three regional public universities that listed a DEI vice president position – Central, Southern, and Eastern Connecticut State Universities – the average salary was $180,202. 

Western Connecticut State University, which has been experiencing financial difficulties, spent the least on DEI staff costs of the four, totaling $343,062 for 2023, compared to $530,106 for ECSU, and $809,366 for SCSU.

“Diversity is one of CSCU’s greatest strengths – diversity of our faculty and staff, diversity of our students and diversity of thought,” said CSCU spokesperson Samantha Norton in an email.

CSCU is advocating for another $47.6 million during this legislative session, although union and student activist groups have called for as much as $160 million, and CSCU increased tuition for students this past year to help make up for a budget gap. CSCU Chancellor Terrence Cheng warned they may have to make cuts if they can’t get more funding. 

The University of Connecticut established its Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion much earlier, in 2016. That office employs three full-time professional staff, accounting for $537,207 in salary costs. UConn, likewise, has requested $64.2 million more in funding for its university, pushing back against Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget proposal.

There is also a bill before the General Assembly’s Labor and Public Employees Committee to establish 24 new DEI Director positions across all state government departments. The directors would develop and coordinate the department’s equity initiatives, training and hiring practices, and evaluate the efficacy of those policies through data gathering, among other things.

Although there is no cost estimate on the proposal yet, some state government departments have already established the position.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation recently made long-time employee Debra Goss director of diversity, equity, and inclusion, who received total pay of $127,897 in 2023. The Public Defender’s Office hired Daryl McGraw, who was suspended in November of 2023 over his social media posts, as its DEI director in 2022. McGraw earned $143,589 in 2023.

Thus far, however, the position of DEI director is few and far between among state departments. Some agencies, like the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services have maintained an Office of Multicultural Affairs since the late 1990s. 

Other departments established working groups to focus on racial justice issues, like the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), which formed the Connecticut Equity and Environmental Justice Advisory Council under a 2021 executive order by Gov. Ned Lamont to advise the DEEP Commissioner on matters related to environmental impacts on environmental justice communities. The council is largely made up of various state officials and community stakeholders.

In 2021, the General Assembly also created the Commission on Racial Equity and Public Health as part of Connecticut’s declaration of racism as a public health crisis. The commission, housed under the Office of Legislative Management, is made up of appointees who are not paid but has a staff of three who earn a combined total of $291,714. 

The Commission’s recommendations were the basis of the bill to establish DEI director positions in state government, which received support from labor leaders and Connecticut Comptroller Sean Scanlon. 

Scanlon testified that while Connecticut state government “continues to successfully surpass many other public-sector employers across the country when it comes to women rising to the highest ranks of state government,” the state “faces persistent challenges” when it comes to hiring women and minorities “in certain types of occupations and ensuring equal compensation across gender and racial-ethnic categories.”

Lamont’s budget chief, Jeffrey Beckham, opposed the creation of DEI Director positions for state departments, saying it was “not necessary to achieve the goal of the bill,” and advocating to stick with Lamont’s plan of hiring a Chief Equity and Opportunity Officer within the Office of the Governor to create “a more effective and efficient approach to enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Norton indicated that the DEI coordinator positions not only ensure compliance with federal, state and BOR policy regarding protected classes, but are part of CSCU’s “mission work.”

“Our students come from each of Connecticut’s communities, and it’s crucial our faculty and staff reflect our student population and can relate to and understand their lived experiences. Just as a core curriculum is integral to students’ academic experience and success in the classroom, DEI is vital to making sure our students feel like they belong,” Norton said.

**This article was corrected to indicate that Chaisson-Cardenas head ODEI for CT State Community College**

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