NEW: UNC eliminates DEI funding, reroutes money to public safety after Gaza camp violence

“I think that DEI in a lot of people’s minds is divisiveness, exclusion and indoctrination,” Marty Kotis, the vice chair over the board’s budget and finance committee said in the meeting.

“We need more unity and togetherness, more dialogue, more diversity of thought," she added, per WUNC.

Many members of the board touched on the Gaza camp protest that took place on campus in connection with the need for funds going to public safety.

“When you destroy property or you take down the U.S flag and you have to put up gates around it — that costs money,” Kotis said. “It’s imperative that we have the proper resources for law enforcement to protect the campus.”

Chair of the budget and finance committee David Boliek stated, “It is a shame that the town of Chapel Hill refuses to aid our local university police when called upon.”

“The $2.3 million would be an added help to what is probably a budget issue with respect to how much we’re having to spend on law enforcement right now,” he added.

Courtesy: Parker Ali, a student at UNC Chapel Hill and photographer for the Daily Tar Heel

The decision comes after the protest where a group of fraternity brothers protected the US flag on the quad amid the Gaza camp protest.

Protesters threw water bottles and other items at officers during the protest as well as at other students. Members of the media were shoved by those demonstrating. Protesters tore down the flag to replace it with a Palestine flag in the process. University Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts, who attended the meeting on the DEI funding, replaced the flag once torn down by protesters.

Police made 36 arrests when clearing the camp.