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Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist@DeAngelisCorey · Aug 20, 2025

BREAKING: Undercover journalists caught the Dean of Students at the University of West Alabama circumventing the…

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Summary

Undercover journalists from Accuracy in Media caught the Dean of Students at University of West Alabama, Byron Thetford, on video discussing ways to circumvent the state's DEI ban through loopholes and relabeling programs. When confronted with the evidence, Thetford acknowledged that payroll funds used for DEI initiatives still come from state sources, effectively circumventing state law.

Summarized by ThreadOut AI from the full thread. May miss nuance — read the thread below.

  1. #1

    BREAKING: Undercover journalists caught the Dean of Students at the University of West Alabama circumventing the state’s DEI ban. He said "we can't directly fund DEI programming so we have been looking for loopholes." They confronted him about it. I have the video. Buckle up🧵

  2. #2

    The administrator says "we can't directly fund DEI programming so we have been looking for loopholes." He's the Dean of Students at @univwestalabama.

  3. #3

    A journalist confronts the Dean of Students about him saying they're "looking for loopholes" to get around the DEI ban. He denies it at first. The @univwestalabama administrator's name is Byron Thetford.

  4. #4

    The journalist then reveals he has undercover video evidence and shows it to the Dean of Students. The journalist gets him to admit using payroll funds for DEI still uses state funds for DEI. "Payroll funds come from the state, do they not?" "Most of them do, yes."

  5. #5

    The journalist asks what he meant by "looking for loopholes." The administrator says "we're still looking for ways that we can provide for our students any way that we can."

  6. #6

    "We're just being more mindful of how we go about it. It's a marketing thing." He agrees with the statement that employees "will continue doing 'the work,' just under a different title."

  7. #7

    The journalist asks him if he thinks taxpayers would be worried about someone finding "loopholes" to "circumvent state law." The administrator says, "They very well might be. I'm not really prepared to comment on that at this time."

  8. #8

    The Dean of Students at University of West Alabama (@univwestalabama) is Byron Thetford. He has been there for over 11 years.

  9. #9

    The undercover journalists are at Accuracy in Media. Follow them at @AccuracyInMedia.

  10. #10

    You can watch the full undercover video by @AccuracyInMedia here: youtu.be/d0nl8soqVjk

  11. #11

    Send a message to the relevant authorities about this administrator "looking for loopholes" around the state's DEI ban: deiinalabama.com

  12. #12

    The journalist confronting the administrator is @adamguillette. He is the President of Accuracy in Media.