Cal Poly Humboldt
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Notice of Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender or Sex:

The California State University does not discriminate on the basis of gender, which includes sex and gender identity or gender expression, or sexual orientation in its education programs or activities.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and certain other federal and state laws, prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation in employment, as well as in all education programs and activities operated by the University (both on and off campus), including admissions. The protection against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation includes sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, and gender based dating and domestic violence and stalking.

Any person may report sex discrimination, including sexual harassment (whether or not the person reporting is the person alleged to have experienced the conduct that could constitute sex discrimination or sexual harassment), in-person, by mail, by telephone, or by electronic mail, using the contact information listed below for the Title IX Coordinator, or by any other means that results in the Title IX Coordinator receiving the person’s verbal or written report. Such a report may be made at any time (including during non-business hours) by using the telephone number or electronic mail address, or by mail to the office address, listed for the Title IX Coordinator.

https://titleix.humboldt.edu/compliance#:~:text=Notice%20of%20Non,SanFrancisco%40ed.gov

Cal Poly Humboldt’s Title IX Coordinator & Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation (DHR) Prevention Administrator is designated to manage, coordinate and respond to reports of violations covered under the Nondiscrimination Policy. This includes implementing prompt and equitable grievance procedures for students, staff, and faculty. More information is available here: https://titleix.humboldt.edu/.

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is in the process of reactivating a Bias Incident Response Team that includes faculty and staff.

Issues involving staff go through Human Resources and issues with faculty go through Academic Personnel Services (APS).

Specific resources that are provided to victims of discrimination, harrassment, and retaliation are documented under the CSU Nondiscrimination Policy, found here: https://calstate.policystat.com/policy/10926024/latest/#autoid-4k225

NOTE: Use of the term “victim” does not mean or imply that any assumption or determination of responsibility has been made with respect to a respondent who has been accused of engaging in sexual misconduct/sexual assault, sexual exploitation, dating or domestic violence, or stalking.

Specific action warranted to support victims is explicit in the language in Attachment B of the Nondiscrimination Policy and includes: The Title IX Coordinator will inform the victim of the initiation of an investigation prior to starting an investigation and will, to the extent possible, only share information with people responsible for handling the University's response to the incident. The Title IX Coordinator will remain mindful of the victim's well-being, and will take ongoing steps, as warranted and appropriate, to protect the victim from retaliation or harm, and work with the victim to create a safety plan. Retaliation against persons reporting misconduct, whether by students, employees or third parties, will not be tolerated.

The University and Title IX Coordinator will also:
-Provide supportive measures requested by the victim, if they are reasonably available, regardless of whether the victim chooses to report the incident to Campus or local police;
-Assist victims in accessing available victim advocacy, academic support, counseling, disability, medical/health or mental health services, and legal assistance both on and off Campus;
-Provide security and support, which could include issuing a no-contact order, helping arrange a change of Campus-based living, working arrangements, or course schedules (including for the respondent pending the outcome of the investigation), or adjustments for assignments, tests, or work duties; and
-Inform victims of their right to report a crime to University or local police and provide assistance if desired.

Specific action warranted to support victims is explicit in the language in Attachment B of the Nondiscrimination Policy and includes: The University shall respond promptly and effectively to all complaints of Discrimination, Harassment, Retaliation, Sexual Misconduct, Dating and Domestic Violence, and Stalking, and shall take appropriate action to stop the behavior, remedy the effects of that behavior, and prevent any behavior that violates this policy from reoccurring. This Executive Order is intended to protect the rights and privacy of both the Complainant and the Respondent, as well as other involved individuals.

The Campus Assistance, Response, and Engagement (C.A.R.E.) program partners with Title IX/DHR to refer cases of discrimination involving students, when appropriate. C.A.R.E.’s primary mission is to support the wellbeing and success of Cal Poly Humboldt students by facilitating referrals, support, and advocacy through non-clinical interventions.

CARE Services Include:
-Referrals to basic needs resources on and off campus
-Academic accommodations/advocacy including notifying professors regarding missed classes, dropping a course, and withdrawing from a course due to extenuating circumstances
-Help with navigating and explaining university policy and procedures
Consultation for the university community regarding students in distress
-Follow-up services in collaboration with parents, guardians, community agencies, other university departments, and other stakeholders in the student’s success
-Depending on the nature of the situation, CARE will consult with HSU offices impacted by a crisis

The CARE office and their website cites that Limitations of CARE Service include: "Title IX and DHR accommodations (For issues related to intimate partner violence, sexual assualt, stalking, harassment, discrimination, and/or retaliation)."

Read more at https://titleix.humboldt.edu/.

Campus Advocate Team is made up of advocates from the North Coast Rape Crisis Team and provide FREE & CONFIDENTIAL tailored support and services to Humboldt students, staff and faculty of all gender identities, including those who identify as Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Non-Binary, who have been affected by sexual assault, dating/ domestic violence, stalking, and/or sexual harassment.

Services through their on and off-campus offices include:
- Individual counseling
- Assistance in securing on-campus interim measures such as changing dorms and/or classes, making up exams, priority access to counseling and/or health services etc.
- Advocacy and accompaniment during the university reporting or investigative process
- Advocacy and accompaniment to law enforcement, court, medical, ect. appointments
- Information and resources (both on or off campus)

The Humboldt Campus Advocate Team has NO reporting obligations to Law enforcement and/or admin. Their services are for anyone who has experienced violence at ANY time in their lives regardless of how long ago it occurred. They hold no stance on reporting. They are pro survivor and pro healing. They support your decision to report or not to report 100%.

Their website is: https://www.ncrct.org/campus-advocate-team-2/

Efforts to recruit under-represented students to HSU during the Admissions process include:
1) Spring Preview - HSU Admissions sponsors 3 buses (150 students) to attend an extended Preview program that spans 4 days and is available to low income, first generation, under-represented students.
2) Admissions Counselors use demographic information provided by the State, to reach out to high schools and under-represented students throughout Califonia.
3) Admissions Counselors partner with HSI STEM grant principle investigators to reach out to students who identify as Latinx to consider studying in the STEM fields at HSU.
4) Admissions Counselors participate in a large number of CSU initiatives aimed at increasing the number of under-represented students at HSU such as CSU Super Sunday events in primarily African American communities and Ferias which serve primarily at Latinx communities.
5) Admissions works to ensure Spanish-speaking students and staff are available in the call center, at all yield events and provides professional translation services at all yield events.
6) Admissions Counselors collaborate and cross train with Early Outreach staff who are funded by TRiO grants to serve under-represented, low income, and first generation students.

For recruitment of faculty and staff from underrepresented groups, the Office of Diversity & Inclusion (ODI) and HR/Academic Personnel Services work together with hiring committees to ensure that their job announcements are crafted to reach a broad sector of the population. They check hiring committee advertising plans and suggest additional places to advertise to reach a more diverse audience and mechanisms to specifically engage underrepresented groups. The ODEI Associate Vice President and Campus Diversity Officer also compares the demographics that make up the applicant pools for all faculty hires to ensure the proportions of underrepresented members, including women, are close to the proportions that are being produced from PhD and MFA granting institutions. Additionally, all faculty, staff and administrators on hiring committees must take an Implicit Bias in the Hiring Process workshop that they must retake every two years.

The ODEI, Human Resources and Academic Personnel Services also collaborate on the Cluster Hire Initiative and the Equity Advocate Program:

Cluster Hire Initiative: Faculty cluster hiring continues to be a widespread practice in higher education that involves hiring faculty into multiple departments or colleges and focus on interdisciplinary research topics, or “clusters” (The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities). Many cluster hiring programs have as a goal to increase faculty diversity and address other aspects of institutional excellence, teaching and learning, and community engagement.

Equity Advocate Program: An Equity Advocate is a volunteer faculty or staff member who serves on a department’s search committee to be a presence and resource that encourages equitable consideration of all candidates across identity markers. The Equity Advocate adds a layer of awareness and consistency to the search and deliberative process that allows the search committee to focus on content expertise while minimizing the cognitive and structural impact of implicit bias. All faculty search committees must include an Equity Advocate.

There are several Cultural Centers for Academic Excellence that serve and support students. These include the Umoja - Pan African Center for Academic Excellence, El Centro Academico Cultural, the Social Justice, Equity, and Inclusion Center and the Native American Center for Academic Excellence (ITEPP).

The Educational Opportunity Program also works heavily with minoritized students.

A Graduate Students of Color Group supports graduate students' need to share resources and navigate graduate school.

ODEI, HR, and APS collaborate to offer two initiatives serve Cal Poly Humboldt's faculty and staff of color: BIPOC Faculty Affinity Circle, and BIPOC Staff Affinity Circle.

Through the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Grant Program, ODEI annually sponsors programs designed to support Cal Poly Humboldt students, student organizations, staff, faculty, and underrepresented faculty to submit proposals for programs offered on campus to the university community that raise awareness, deepen understanding, and/or engage the campus community in dialogue about one or more of the multiple dimensions of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

CSU Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program-
The CSU Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program aims to increase the number of individuals who complete the doctorate and who may be interested in potentially applying and competing for future CSU instructional faculty positions. The program seeks to accomplish this goal by providing financial aid in the form of loans to doctoral students with the motivation, skills, and experience needed to teach the diverse student population of the CSU.
http://www.calstate.edu/hr/cdip/

California Pre-Doctoral Program-
The California Pre-Doctoral Program is designed to increase the pool of potential faculty by supporting the doctoral aspirations of California State University (CSU) students who have experienced economic and educational disadvantages. The program places a special emphasis on increasing the number of CSU students who enter doctoral programs at one of the University of California (UC) institutions.
http://www.calstate.edu/predoc/

Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Scholarship-
Funded by the National Science Foundation and supported by the Indian Natural Resource, Science and Engineering Program (INRSEP), the LSAMP scholarship provides funding to support students from groups which are historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, who are interested in pursuing graduate programs, and who may become future faculty members at a CSU campus.
http://www2.humboldt.edu/inrsep/student-opportunities

California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education-
Cal Poly Humboldt participates in the California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education, planned by a consortium of public and private colleges and universities from throughout California. The program is designed to particularly meet the needs of advanced undergraduates and master's candidates who belong to groups that are currently underrepresented in doctoral-level programs. The groups include low-income and first-generation college students and especially African Americans, American Indians, Chicanos/Latinos, Filipinos, Pacific Islanders, Asian American women, and Asian American men in the arts, humanities, and social and behavioral sciences.
Each California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education will bring together approximately 1,000 pre-selected, high-achieving undergraduate and master's students enrolled at colleges and universities within California. The students will explore graduate opportunities and resources by participating in numerous workshops conducted throughout the day. Universities and individual graduate programs offering academic master's and/or Ph.D. degrees are welcome to participate in the recruitment fairs that will take place concurrently with the other planned activities. Note that these events are for all disciplines except programs in medicine, dentistry, optometry, chiropractic, pharmacy, veterinary science, and law, all of which have their own recruiting networks.
https://www.caldiversityforum.org/