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UW Madison DEI Director Demoted
At least one Republican at the Wisconsin Capitol says demoting UW-Madison’s DEI director may not be enough.
State Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, took to Facebook Thursday to question the university’s decision to remove LaVar Charleston as director of the Madison campus' Department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
“UW-Madison removed their expensive chief DEI Chancellor over concerns of financial mismanagement this week. The REAL mismanagement is that the school has decided to keep him on the payroll as a clinical professor in the School of Education. Where is the ACCOUNTABILITY?” Nedweski wrote on Facebook.
Charleston took over UW-Madison’s DEI office in 2021, and made more than $300,000 during the last school year.
The university said it removed him from his job because of "areas of concern about financial operations and fiscal judgments in the division."
"The University of Wisconsin–Madison has initiated a leadership change in the Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and Provost Charles Isbell, Jr. announced Wednesday," the university said in a brief announcement. "Events, programs and services in DDEEA will continue under Isbell’s leadership and the existing senior DDEEA leadership team, and there should be no direct impact on students in DDEEA programs."
The university said Charleston will return to “his backup appointment as a clinical professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis in the School of Education.”
That will guarantee him a $133,000 yearly salary.
Nedweski said that’s not holding him accountable for the fiscal “concerns” at the Department of DEI.
“Charleston's compensation was $308k PER YEAR to lead UW-Madison's Division of Diversity, Equity, and Educational Achievement, which employs 12 people in leadership level positions and 103 staff below that level. He has faced credible accusations of academic fraud and felony charges for strangling a police officer,” Nedweski added.
The MacIver Institute reported on Charleston's legal troubles back in 2022.
Charleston had not commented since his demotion earlier this week, and the UW has not said anything else about the fiscal concerns that cost him his job.
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