The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents is paying $265,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a woman who says she was demoted from a diversity, equity and inclusion leadership position because she is white.
The settlement caps off a three-year legal battle between former University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire employee Rochelle Hoffman and administrators with the campus and university system. Hoffman claims she faced racial hostility from student groups and faculty members in Eau Claire after she was appointed interim director of the university’s office of Multicultural Student Services.
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In 2022, Hoffman filed complaints with the university and the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s Equal Rights Division. She alleged students attending open houses said they didn’t want any “white identifying” individuals holding leadership positions in the newly created office, and some faculty raised concerns about the “optics” of a white woman replacing former DEI leaders who were Asian and Black.
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Hoffman also pleaded her case to state Senator Pat Testin, R-Stevens Point, according to an email obtained by WPR through an open records request related to DEI funding at state universities. She told Testin she was unhappy with what happened to her, but wrote, “I think it is important for good educators to bring light to some of the blatant actions of racial discrimination against white folks that are happening at UW Universities – and contributing to the current hostile environment around the UW System.”
Hoffman’s correspondence was forwarded to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, in May 2023. That September, Vos announced he would block pre-approved raises for around 34,000 university employees until administrators eliminate DEI programs and staff. He followed through and the UW Board of Regents eventually struck a deal with Vos that froze DEI staffing through 2026 in exchange for the money for pay raises and a new engineering building at UW-Madison.
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