Donor to Move Scholarship From UNC Wilmington Due to DEI Policy

The Upperman family, which established what is now a $1 million endowed scholarship fund at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, will not change the terms of the scholarship to comply with the UNC system’s anti–diversity, equity and inclusion rules, WHQR, an NPR affiliate in southeastern North Carolina, reported. Instead, they plan to move the scholarship to a more DEI-friendly institution.

University leaders asked Linda Upperman Smith to remove a line from the language of the scholarship that reads, “Special consideration will also be given to students who have demonstrated experience in or commitment to working with the African American community.” The scholarship is one of 18 that the institution’s Office of General Counsel determined were out of compliance with the system’s DEI policy.

But Upperman Smith said she wasn’t willing to sign off on the change.

“I discussed it with my adult sons, and we decided the climate may never change. There’s no way that we’re going to not follow my father’s wishes for the money to go to an African American student, so we’re not changing the wording,” she said.

The endowment distributes 4 percent of its total value, or about $40,000, in scholarships annually. There are currently three remaining Upperman scholars at Wilmington who will continue receiving funds until they graduate, but Upperman Smith said she plans to move the endowment to “a university where it’s pretty likely that an African American student would get it based on the population, and at this point we’re looking at Howard University,” where her father, Leroy Upperman, attended medical school.