This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The newest industry in America's higher education is pushing the components of the "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" agenda, according to a report from the Goldwater Institute.

And officials there say they are out to do battle with it.

A report from Goldwater explained, "$25 million at the University of California, Berkeley. $18 million at the University of Michigan. More than $4 million at the University of Central Florida. That’s how much these big-name public universities are pouring into 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI) programs—in just one year. Students, though, deserve better than racial discrimination under the guise of DEI—and students and taxpayers should certainly not be forced to foot the bill for the DEI bureaucracy that’s pervading universities across America."

Its goal, Goldwater said, is to dismantle the DEI "regime."

That would mean neither students nor taxpayers have to subsidize the "racially divisive ideology."

The institute noted a recent Campus Reform report revealed factors that contribute to the problem, such as an effort by the University of California, San Diego, to hire a "Talent Diversity Champion" – for a salary of up to $130,00.

Then there is Michigan's plan to hire, for up to $93,500, a "DEI lead."

And Ventura County Community College District in California advertised for an "Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" for up to $139,000.

"A Heritage Foundation study focusing on the 65 universities in the 'Power Five' athletic conferences revealed that on average, each school employed 45 DEI personnel, or 3.4 DEI personnel for every 100 tenured or tenure-track faculty. And DEI officers have taken it upon themselves to enforce rigid conformity to DEI in every aspect of university life, from faculty hiring and training to classroom content," the institute report said.

Further, "Schools like Virginia Tech, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Michigan have come under fire for weaponizing bias-response teams—mechanisms by which progressives can police student speech and intimidate students into self-censorship under the guise of investigating 'bias,'" the report said.

Goldwater reported, "It’s all part of the sprawling DEI apparatus in higher education—DEI bureaucracies push 'woke' ideologies on students and faculty, bias-response teams punish the slightest deviation from the script of political correctness, and university bureaucrats silence dissenting voices."

It said its own efforts focus on challenges to such regimes, with successes already in hand in fights in Texas, Florida, and Arizona.

"So long as university bureaucrats continue to enforce compliance with their racially discriminatory DEI initiatives, Goldwater will defend all those who do not wish to be complicit in propagating the destructive DEI agenda," the institute reported.