University of California, Berkeley
PA-6: Support for Underrepresented Groups

The University of California, in accordance with applicable Federal and State law and University policy, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer related or genetic characteristics), ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, or service in the uniformed services. The University also prohibits sexual harassment. This nondiscrimination policy covers admission, access, and treatment in University programs and activities. https://sa.berkeley.edu/nondiscrimination

UC Berkeley will take action and investigate those who are alleged to violate federal and state laws or the Campus Code of Conduct. The campus also provides support to all members of the campus community who experience, or witness, a hate crime or hate-motivated act. The University is required to collect information about hate crimes on campus under the Jeanne Cleary Act. The University is continually developing protocols around hate crimes response. Over the past year, many changes have occurred across the University of California system to ensure consistency in policies and processes across UC campuses. For example, as of January 2016, all UC campuses follow an adjudication model for cases involving a student responding to allegations of sexual violence and sexual harassment that includes clear guidelines for disciplinary sanctions. UC Berkeley officials have expanded confidential support services for survivors, and established a new center, the PATH to Care Center, dedicated to prevention efforts and survivor support; provided more staff resources to the Title IX office and the Center for Student Conduct; and expanded prevention and education programs required for faculty, students and staff. In addition, the campus created the position of Special Faculty Adviser to the Chancellor on Sexual Violence/Sexual Harassment, which supports campuswide sexual misconduct prevention and response efforts. Sharon Inkelas, who began work in that role this school year, noted the important and courageous work of those UC Berkeley student activists who came forward in 2013 and in the years after, to share their painful stories and, in doing so, helped to spark a national discussion of sexual violence and sexual harassment. In October 2018, a poster containing anti-Semitic messages was found on campus. In response, staff from Student Affairs reached out to students who expressed concern about the poster on social media, and the campus offered resources such as counseling services to affected students. Campus police also sought out any information related to the incident.

Students Through its college preparation outreach programs, UC devotes considerable resources to offering college preparation support to more than 100,000 K–12 and community college students annually. This effort results in a greater number of students who are prepared and qualified for study at UC. Of the high schools served, roughly 70 percent have been among the lowest-performing schools in California. Participants in these programs have higher rates of enrollment in California public college segments, and those who are accepted to UC enroll at higher rates than their peers. UC’s college preparation programs remove participants’ obstacles to attending UC, encouraging them to apply and enroll at UC at higher rates than those overall for California high school graduates. The most recent data for fall 2015 show the enrollee yield — the ratio of students admitted to UC who enroll — for participants in UC academic preparation programs is higher, at 61.7 percent, than for all California high school graduates at 53.2 percent. African American participants in UC college preparation programs were also more likely to enroll at a UC campus than were their peers who did not participate (58 percent compared to 50 percent). In addition to funding UC’s college preparation programs, the 2016–17 state budget for UC included $20 million in one-time funding for support services for “low-income students and students from underrepresented minority groups,” including students who were enrolled in high schools designated by the California Department of Education as eligible for supplemental funding under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) because of their populations of low-income or educationally disadvantaged students. UC campuses are using this funding for two primary purposes: to increase the application, admission and enrollment of students from these schools; and to provide academic support services to enrolled students, focusing on those who are low-income, first-generation-college or otherwise educationally disadvantaged. Outcomes from this initiative will be reported in fall 2017. I Faculty A key challenge for the university has been the ability to monitor the diversity of candidate pools, finalists or those offered a faculty position. To address this challenge, the university has deployed a Web-based recruitment system called UC Recruit. UC Recruit significantly streamlines the faculty recruitment and application process by automating procedures that had been very labor-intensive. For the first time, consistent data on successful outcomes from searches are being collected from this common UC system. Analyses of these data will help identify best practices in recruiting a diverse faculty. Changes have also been made to the Academic Personnel Manual (APM) on appointments, promotions and appraisals (APM 210). In judging a candidate’s teaching, research and service, faculty review committees are encouraged to consider contributions to diversity. For example, in the review of teaching, the development of particularly effective strategies for the educational advancement of students in various underrepresented groups is credited. The review considers all faculty research, outreach or public service that contributes to the advancement of equitable access and diversity in education and society. Additionally, each department or school at Berkeley has a Faculty Equity Advisor who helps ensure that diversity and equity are considered in all aspects of the academic mission. Faculty Equity Advisors are appointed by the department chair or dean. As well as working within their own departments, they participate in a campuswide network to share strategies and collaborate on addressing common challenges. Faculty Equity advisors participate in the strategic planning for diversity that is part of the Academic Program Review, making sure that diversity is a meaningful part of the department or school’s self-assessment and plans for future success. Faculty Equity Advisors serve as a resource to ensure equity and inclusion in faculty searches, support and success. More info about the program can be found at: https://campusclimate.berkeley.edu/faculty/our-programs-and-services/faculty-equity-advisors Staff UC Berkeley’s Strategic Plan for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity also includes the Expanded Pathways for Access and Success program specifically for staff members. Similarly, the program advocates for training, official recognition and hiring practices that help create a more diverse campus staff. More information on the University of California's commitment and efforts to recruit diverse students, staff and faculty can be found here: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/may16/e3.pdf

Changes have been made to the Academic Personnel Manual (APM) on appointments, promotions, and appraisals (APM 210). In judging a candidate’s teaching, research and service, faculty review committees are encouraged to consider contributions to diversity. For example, in the review of teaching, the development of particularly effective strategies for the educational advancement of students in various underrepresented groups is credited. The review considers all faculty research, outreach or public service that contributes to the advancement of equitable access and diversity in education and society. The University also has increased its investment in programs that support new scholars in all fields whose teaching, research, and service will contribute to diversity. Since its inception in 1984, more than 180 former President’s Postdoctoral Fellows have received UC tenure-track appointments. And of those Fellows appointed to the UC faculty since 1995, 99 percent of those reviewed for tenure have received tenure. Equity in faculty compensation is a critical part of the University’s commitment to fairness and inclusion and contributes to a productive academic workplace. At the request of the UC Office of the President, in 2015, all ten campuses submitted faculty salary equity reports assessing possible disparity in salary compensation associated with gender or race/ethnicity for ladder-rank faculty. For staff, the University of California has required that its campuses clarify potential career paths for staff while developing a comprehensive, systemwide talent management and leadership development plan aligned with employee affirmative action plans. At the same time, the UC system works to address risks raised by claims of discrimination and lack of attention to diversity issues while recognizing leaders who establish effective programs that model the system's ethical values and support the growth and placement of a diverse leadership pipeline. UC Berkeley’s Staff Diversity Initiatives program also offers mentorship, counseling and training programs that advance the careers of diverse university staff members. Mentorship programs pair staff with more experienced colleagues to help them plan out their careers within the UC Berkeley system. The programs reach out specifically to diverse employees eager to thrive at UC Berkeley. The Multicultural Education Program (MEP) is one of six initiatives funded by the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund to work towards institutional change and to create a positive campus climate for diversity. The MEP is a five-year initiative to establish a sustainable infrastructure for activities like educational consultation and diversity workshops for the campus that address both specific topics, and to cater to group needs across the campus. More information about Staff Diversity Initiatives is available through https://campusclimate.berkeley.edu/staff/our-programs-and-services. For students, UC Berkeley has launched a range of initiatives, including a survey measuring the campus climate around diversity issues, scholarships supporting diverse student populations and the launching of the Centers for Educational Equity and Excellence, which supports underserved and non-traditional students. A range of student clubs support students from diverse backgrounds, and the campus' Division of Equity and Inclusion has launched several initiatives guiding and mentoring students of color.

The UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP) is a keystone program at the University of California that supports diversification of UC faculty through financial support and career development training for postdoctoral scholars that show promise to be successful faculty in the UC system. Fellows have a demonstrated record of commitment to diversity in their research, teaching and/or outreach. The fellowship is extremely competitive, selecting the top 3 percent of applicants. Since the 2013–14 academic year more than 500 people apply to the program annually, this year reaching over 850. The program selects approximately 20 fellows annually. The President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP) and the Chancellors’ Fellowship Programs have accounted for 11.5 percent of new underrepresented minority faculty hired at UC in the last ten years. At present, 165 PPFP fellows have been hired into UC tenure-track positions since 2004. Additionally, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Caltech and UCLA offer postdoctoral fellowships as part of the California Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, a diverse, cross-institutional community of Ph.D. students, postdoc scholars and faculty members funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The alliance provides underrepresented minority scholars with faculty mentoring, professional development and academic networking opportunities. Of the 25 fellows in 2018, four are at UCLA, six at Stanford, seven at Berkeley and 15 at Caltech. Of the seven who finished the program, one is an astronaut, four have faculty positions — at UC Santa Cruz, UC San Diego, Rice University and San Francisco State University — and two took jobs in industry. Finally, in October 2015, the Office of the President launched the President’s Diversity Pipeline Initiative (DPI) to expand the academic pipeline to the University of California for undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty who remain persistently underrepresented at UC. The Diversity Pipeline Initiative builds on existing university resources — admissions policies and practices, academic preparation (outreach) programs and community partnerships, among others. Outcomes from the first year of the DPI include: Admissions of African American students in fall 2016 were up by 30.6 percent from fall 2015. 44 percent of fall 2017 California freshman applicants were from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds. 36.4 percent of new California freshmen in fall 2016 were from URM backgrounds. UC college-prep programs saw a 12.7 percent increase in African American student enrollment from 2012–13 to 2015–16. The UC-HBCU Initiative improves diversity and strengthens graduate programs by investing in relationships between UC campuses and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Since its inaugural year (2012), more than 315 HBCU scholars have participated in the program, which offers faculty-led summer research opportunities and year-round mentoring. Twenty-seven Ph.D. students and two M.A. students are currently enrolled at UC, and three M.A. students have already graduated from UC as a direct result of the program.

Information for this field were obtained through the UC Berkeley Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the UC President's Annual Accountability Sub-Report on Diversity and other online UC Berkeley resources.