BATON ROUGE - State lawmakers say they’re concerned about how tax dollars are being spent at state universities. Last year, the LSU Board of Supervisors got rid of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Then, state leaders asked for a report about which DEI programs Louisiana Universities are still funding.

LSU President Dr. William Tate answered questions about the university’s academic performance and population growth. Not on the agenda were many questions about the university’s use of taxpayer dollars to support diversity, equity, and inclusion.

In the past year, LSU’s stance on DEI has changed in the last year. Tate says the university is concerned with student success and that depends on students being engaged.

“We should be in the student success business," Tate said.

Last year, the Board of Supervisors required DEI programs be eliminated, and State Rep. Emily Chenevert, R- East Baton Rouge, sponsored a bill requiring universities to provide reports of how much money was paid to support the programs.

State Rep. Josh Carlson, R-Lafayette, says he’s concerned about discrepancies in the report LSU submitted and information available on the university’s website. Carlson says he read a quote on LSU Health’s website, "At LSU HSC, we are taking steps to transform the institution is not a culture where bias and inequity have no place."

Tate says there’s a difference between DEI programs and health research specific to race, gender and background.

“There's certain diseases such as sickle cell anemia and others that a preponderance of people that get them are people of color,” he said.