University of Michigan Spends More Than $18 Million on DEI Staff Salary, Benefits

The University of Michigan will spend more than $18 million this academic year on salary and benefits for its diversity, equity, and inclusion staff, according to an analysis by economics professor emeritus Mark Perry.

That figure, which amounts to the cost of in-state tuition for 1,075 students, will be paid out to more than 142 staff during the 2022 to 2023 school year, according to Perry’s analysis of public data.

The university’s vice provost for equity and inclusion, Tabbye Chavous Sellers, is the highest-paid DEI staffer. Sellers, the wife of former DEI provost Robert Sellers, makes $380,000. Seventeen DEI staffers make more than $200,000 in total compensation, according to the data. Ninety-five staffers make more than $100,000 in total compensation.

The university’s DEI staff has seen rapid growth in recent years; in the 2018 and 2019 academic year the school employed just 82 DEI staffers, for a total cost of $10.6 million. The staff grew to 126 during the 2021 to 2022 school year at a total cost of $15.6 million.

Staff positions with “diversity,” “equity,” or “inclusion” in the job title did not begin popping up at the university until the 2004 to 2005 school year, Perry told the Daily Caller.

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