LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Trump Administration gave universities and colleges a Friday deadline to remove their “race-based” practices or danger shedding federal funding.
The Clark County College District has a variety and fairness division with a virtually $2.2 million price range, in accordance with information 8 Information Now obtained.
“DEI right now, through executive order, they are calling for the elimination of that in our education system,” Trustee Lorena Biassotti of District E stated at a CCSD Board of Trustees assembly.
CCSD has a whole division devoted to variety, fairness, and inclusion. The vast majority of the coed inhabitants at CCSD is Black, Asian, Hispanic/Latino, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Native American. Hispanic/Latinos comprise almost half the coed physique.
The information 8 Information Now obtained by way of a public report confirmed CCSD’s fairness and variety division had a $2.2 million price range within the fiscal 12 months of 2025. Eight staff work in that division, and 4 of them make six figures.
Assistant Superintendent Samuel Scavella has the biggest wage within the variety and fairness division at $150,812. One other 14 CCSD staff are categorised as working in fairness and/or variety.
President Donald Trump has stated he needs to finish DEI insurance policies, together with these at colleges.
“It was really hurting our country badly. It was costing a lot of money too. You see the kind of money we’re talking about, hundreds of millions of dollars for nonsense,” Trump stated earlier this month.
The subject of DEI got here up at this week’s CCSD assembly. Biassotti requested superintendent candidate Jhone Ebert, who’s a lady and mixed-race, about it.
“You have achieved so much. Do you believe today’s students can achieve the same success without systems of DEI incorporated into our education system?” Biassotti requested.
Ebert ultimately answered the query, however solely after Biassotti requested it in a distinct method.
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“We are diverse and we need to embrace it. The work that we do with all of our students is important, and we need to see that they can be successful,” Ebert, who’s at present the state college superintendent, stated.
Some dad and mom pushed again in opposition to Biassotti’s query.
“We need to stop with the fear mongering and make sure our schools reflect the values of inclusion and respect that actually make Nevada great,” Anna Marie-Binder stated. “Some people want to push a one-sided agenda, but that’s not what school is for. We’re here to teach kids how to think, not what to think. Critical thinking, empathy, and understanding different perspectives. That’s what education looks like.”
CCSD has not responded to an e-mail from 8 Information Now on whether or not it plans to remove its variety applications. The district’s college board employed 2 extra staff to its fairness and variety division at a Feb. 13 assembly.
The American Federation of Academics, the nation’s largest academics’ union, filed a lawsuit this week to dam the Trump Administration from implementing this coverage, accusing President Trump of violating the First and Fifth Amendments.
