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According to the Gateway Pundit, publicly available state payroll records show that the university’s DEI staff collectively receive $1,492,625.40 annually. This spending persists “despite federal executive orders restricting DEI offices and activities,” as the institution continues to operate an Office for Equity and Diversity made up “of over 15 offices and major initiatives.”
The office openly declares its ideological mission, with its website proclaiming, “Equity and diversity is fundamental to everything we do at the University of Minnesota.” Parents and students taking out massive government loans should understand that this is part of what they are financing: the “exorbitant salaries of these pointless employees.”
July 25, 2026
The central DEI office employs four leadership staff and five administrative staff, with five of those positions drawing six-figure salaries, according to OpenPayrolls. Records from 2025 list Vice President for Equity and Diversity Mercedes Ramírez Fernández ($391,759), Associate Vice President for Equity and Diversity and Faculty Development Keisha Varma ($238,540), Associate Vice Presidents Tina Marisam ($230,444) and Malinda Lindquist ($196,267), and Chief of Staff Elizabeth Martinez-Podolsky ($164,800).
The same payroll data also lists Kate Klosterman ($74,298), John Michael Bradshaw ($50,086.40), Jenna Olien ($47,237), and Tia Phan ($99,194). Combined, the nine employees earn $1,492,625.40 annually, a striking figure for an office that produces no measurable academic value but advances a fashionable political agenda.
The University of Minnesota has pressed ahead with its DEI agenda even after President Donald Trump signed a January 2025 executive order directing federally funded colleges and universities to end unlawful DEI programs. In a February 2025 message to the university community, President Rebecca Cunningham bluntly stated the institution would not make changes in response to the executive order.
Higher education in the United States is on a collision course with reality, as administrative bloat and ideological hiring drive costs ever higher. “None of this is sustainable and eventually, the entire house of cards is going to come crashing down,” a warning that should resonate with every taxpayer and every family staring at a tuition bill inflated by ideological excess.
