Wake school board member apologizes for his ‘mediocre white men’ remarks defending DEI
Wake County school board member Sam Hershey apologized Tuesday for his highly publicized remarks about “mediocre white men” in a speech he gave defending diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
Hershey received national attention for a Feb. 4 speech saying “mediocre white men” have been hired for 250 years solely due to their skin color and that critics say “DEI hire” in place of using a racial slur against Black people.
On Tuesday, Hershey faced condemnation from a fellow board member and some members of the public, including U.S. military veteran Erik Shepard, who accused him of making racist comments against white people.
“I could have made the same points two week ago by being more nuanced and without coming across as being demeaning to anyone,” Hershey said. “Mr. Shepard and to those who feel I demeaned their own life, I am sorry.”
The furor over Hershey’s comments comes as the Trump administration has given public schools a deadline to remove DEI policies or risk losing their federal funding.
“I’m disgusted that you are allowed to spew hate, racists comments, call us losers from your podium,” said Jessica Lewis, vice chair of the Wake County chapter of Moms for Liberty. “You are unprofessional and your resignation would serve us well.”
But Hershey also had his defenders during board public comment on Tuesday.
“Mr. Hershey I appreciate your comments as well. For most of you on the school board, it’s so clear how deeply you feel for our children and how deeply you want them to be educated, all children,” said Renee Sekel, a member of the group Red Wine & Blue.
School board chair Chris Heagarty has said there are no plans for the board to reprimand Hershey.
Hershey accused of insulting white men
The Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate DEI programs prompted Hershey to make his speech, with the remarks eventually catching attention online with a national audience. On Friday night, Trump adviser Elon Musk weighed in, saying in a post on X that Hershey “is in for a rude awakening.”
Hershey, who called himself a “slightly better than mediocre white man,” also has received a number of antisemitic insults on social media due to his Jewish heritage.
Hershey has said he hopes to move past the controversy to put the focus back on the issues facing the school district.
But multiple speakers said Tuesday they wouldn’t forget Hershey’s comments.
School board member Cheryl Caulfield said Hershey’s speech demeaned men like her grandfather, uncles and cousins who were in the U.S. military. She said her relatives were “far from mediocre.”
“We do not all share the same racist point of views, and while sitting at this board it’s ironic to hear disheartening phrases around our students like low priority,” said Caulfield, one of two Republicans on the officially non-partisan nine-member school board.
“It shows how biased our board is being. For the record, I do not agree with those words that were spoken and it is definitely not a shared opinion for all of the board members.”
Shepard said he was offended Hershey used Black History Month to insult white men like himself. Shepard noted how he had served in the U.S. military and had “left parts of myself on foreign lands for this country.”
“Those comments called citizens who gave their lives for this country ‘mediocre,’” Shepard said. “They referred to 40% of the Wake County students’ fathers as mediocre on the world stage.”
Hershey said he took Shepard’s words to heart and wanted to personally apologize to him.
Trump education changes
The education landscape has shifted since President Donald Trump took office in January. His administration has made multiple education changes, including:
▪ Rescinded prior guidance that kept federal immigration agents from raiding locations such as schools.
▪ Dropped Biden era Title IX rules that extended federal education protections to transgender students.
▪ Signed executive orders removing DEI policies and staff from federal agencies and threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that promote “discriminatory equity ideology.”
▪ U.S Department of Education notified all 50 state education agencies on Friday they have 14 days to remove diversity, equity and inclusion programming in all public schools or face loss of federal funding.
▪ Department of Education has terminated grants that it says promotes DEI efforts.
The Trump administration also plans to dismantle the Department of Education.
Cut DEI or lose federal funding
Multiple speakers said it’s time for Wake to follow the federal deadline to end DEI. Wake was urged to take steps such as eliminate its Office of Equity Affairs and rescind the Title IX policies it changed using the Biden era guidance.
“It’s time to throw away DEI and get back to academic instruction and obey the law,” said Becky Lew-Hobbs, chair of the Wake County chapter of Moms for Liberty.
Lewis, the vice chair of Wake Moms for Liberty, told the board that Feb. 28 “is the deadline to say goodbye to DEI.”
“It’s in the best interests of the district to comply,” Lewis said. “If compliance is not met, Moms for Liberty is prepared to escalate this issue, potentially leading to the loss of federal funding for the school district.”
Critics pointed out that the school board didn’t want to lose federal funding last year while adopting the Title IX changes. Wake has said it’s reviewing the impact of Trump’s Title IX changes.
“You are hypocrites if you’re not concerned now about what’s being required by the U.s. Department of Education,” Diane Chandler told the board.
Caulfield called on her colleagues to act by the Feb. 28 federal deadline.
Wake urged to resist DEI cuts
Some speakers came to Hershey’s defense and urged Wake to resist the federal government.
“We can and we must talk about equity, addressing systems of power that exist and have existed for centuries to oppress and marginalize specific groups of people,” said Christina Cole, president of the Wake County chapter of the N.C. Association of Educators. “So thank you Mr. Hershey for your brave comments. We have to keep saying those things out loud.”
Sekel said the threat to remove federal funding in 14 days is meaningless because someone would have to file a complaint first against Wake. Then Wake would have due-process rights to appeal loss of funding.
“This administration has declared that it’s going to be eliminating the Department of Education itself and with it the Office of Civil Rights that sits within it, and slashing federal funding anyway. So If they’re going to do away with it anyway, what’s the point with compliance?” Sekel added.
Harper Rossi, a transgender student at Cary High, said Wake needs to continue to protect student groups such as the Gay-Straight Alliance, the Black Students Association and the Latino Student Association.
“Our diversity is our strength and we need to guarantee that our diversity is protected,” Rossi told the board.
This story was originally published February 18, 2025 at 9:00 PM.
