Cal Launches Pioneering Initiative on Equity, Inclusion and Diversity

On a campus long dedicated to educating Californians of every background, a major effort was announced today to establish the University of California, Berkeley, as a national leader in research, teaching and public service related to equity and inclusion.

Backed by a $16 million gift from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, the new U.C. Berkeley Initiative for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity will launch a sweeping array of research projects, faculty chairs, student scholarships, several dozen new courses in American cultures, and programs across the campus. The investment eventually could total $31 million, as parts of it are set up as challenge grants.

“We are in one of the most diverse states in the nation from every aspect — socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, religion, abilities and disabilities, sexual orientation. Our campus reflects that diversity, making it the perfect place to examine these issues,” said Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau.

“This generous gift will allow us to remain a beacon of access and excellence for students of all backgrounds,” he said, “and to become a national model in this growing area of research that is of such importance to society.”

Researchers soon will explore some of the most compelling issues facing California and the nation, students will be trained as leaders for an increasingly globalized world, and every corner of U.C. Berkeley will work to create a more inclusive campus environment. After five years, this broad range of programs funded by the Haas, Jr. Fund investment will be capable of sustaining itself.

“The U.C. Berkeley Initiative for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity is considered the most comprehensive initiative of its kind at a major public research university, in that it launches programs affecting and involving the entire campus community — students, faculty and staff,” said Gibor Basri, appointed in 2007 as U.C. Berkeley’s first vice chancellor for equity and inclusion. “This contribution from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund is critical to our ability to expand this work and make it a permanent part of our institutional fabric.”

The U.C. Berkeley Initiative for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity is considered the most comprehensive initiative of its kind at a major public research university, in that it launches programs affecting and involving the entire campus community — students, faculty and staff.

Vice Chancellor Gibor Basri

Highlights of the initiative include:

• Five new faculty chairs in diversity-related research. They will join the Robert D. Haas Chancellor’s Chair in Equity and Inclusion, established at U.C. Berkeley in 2008 by the Levi Strauss Foundation.
• A $1.5 million endowed scholarship matching fund for community college transfer students, who disproportionately come from economically disadvantaged communities across the state
• Some 30 new or revised American Cultures courses, required of all U.C. Berkeley undergraduates since 1991, that emphasize community and public service and offer opportunities outside the classroom
• An expanded mentoring and career development program for faculty members
• New tools for gathering statistics that will allow the campus to analyze the effectiveness of its efforts toward equity and inclusion
• Competitive grants, available to students, faculty or staff across divisions, for innovative projects that positively affect campus climate
• Resources and classes for students and employees on bridging cultural, physical and societal differences

The faculty members chosen or hired to hold the Haas Diversity Chairs will form the heart of the campus’s four-year-old Berkeley Diversity Research Center, which will be renamed the Haas Diversity Research Center in recognition of this gift.

They will create a multidisciplinary research hub to explore issues including disparities in education, health and the economy, and diversity and democracy. One of the chairs will be focused on equity rights affecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and it will be one of the first endowed chairs on this subject in the United States.

Some of the diversity-related research already underway on campus is being done by faculty members such as professor Na’ilah Suad Nasir, who left her position at Stanford University in 2008 to come to U.C. Berkeley.

“The Berkeley Diversity Research Center and the Haas gift are the reasons why I’m here at Berkeley,” said Nasir, who studies the experiences of African American and other minority students in urban schools and communities. “I was happy with my career at Stanford, but the big draw at U.C. Berkeley is that you have an administration and a faculty in the midst of creating national leadership on this research. At U.C. Berkeley, we have the ability to build a community across disciplines.”

Chancellor Birgeneau said he is thrilled that the initiative also will help prepare students for a diverse and complex world.

“The single most important skill that a 21st century student must master is ‘intercultural competence,'” said Birgeneau, “which is the ability to navigate successfully among diverse groups in an increasingly globalized society.”

The initiative builds upon work Birgeneau spearheaded upon his inauguration in 2005, when he dedicated himself and the campus community to creating a substantially more diverse, inclusive environment at U.C. Berkeley. Since then, the campus has begun examining how to cultivate a more inclusive workplace for staff, created a faculty-focused diversity research center, and set up U.C. Berkeley’s first Division of Equity and Inclusion.

A $1.5 million endowed scholarship matching fund created by the Haas, Jr. investment will encourage and match contributions of $100,000 or more and provide scholarships for community college transfer students, who disproportionately come from economically disadvantaged communities across the state. These students, in addition to their extraordinary academic qualifications and high degrees of financial need, will receive this help because of their interest in community and public service leadership.

Because of its comprehensive scope, the initiative is expected to have a more lasting impact on campus than if it were a piecemeal effort focused strictly on research or on the workplace, said Christopher Edley, dean of the U.C. Berkeley School of Law.

“This investment meets the gold standard for philanthropy – not just generous, this will be transformative for Berkeley,” Edley said. “We’ll have the outstanding students and faculty to make us the undisputed center of the universe for research, teaching and service tackling one of the deepest challenges facing California, the nation and humankind. This is why I came to Berkeley.”

“Cal has the potential to be a model for the nation,” said Robert D. Haas, trustee of the Haas, Jr. Fund and national chair of annual giving for The Campaign for Berkeley.

“U.C. Berkeley historically has sought to educate Californians from every background, regardless of their financial status,” he said, pointing out that a third of the campus’s undergraduates come from families with incomes under $45,000, more than 70 percent receive some form of financial aid, and nearly a third are the first in their families to attend college.

“This initiative takes that public mission to a new level, propelling much-needed research on diversity and cultivating a campus built on fairness and acceptance,” Haas added.

Support for this initiative is part of The Campaign for Berkeley, a comprehensive effort to raise $3 billion by June 2013 to benefit students, faculty, research, and programs, including substantial new endowment funding to preserve U.C. Berkeley’s promise for future generations.