In our continued work for a safe and welcoming environment for everyone, a first step is to assess UCSC’s climate as it relates to diversity and inclusion. The Chancellor’s Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion (http://diversity.ucsc.edu/diversity.htm) and the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion will oversee a campus-wide climate study that includes undergraduate and graduate student surveys in spring 2011, and academic and staff employee surveys in fall 2011. As more information becomes available about these surveys, we strongly encourage you to participate and have your voice heard.
Along with the upcoming surveys, we continue to meet with students to have informal dialogues about classroom and campus climate. This quarter, our visits to College 9/College 10 on January 25 and to the Oakes Town Hall on February 22 were productive opportunities for us to talk with students about subjects of interest to them, including assessment of classroom climate, ethnic studies, student life and budget considerations. We are also meeting with different student organizations to hear concerns and suggestions from specific constituencies. Contact us if your college or organization would like to meet with us, we welcome the invitation!
As Campus Diversity Officers we continue to engage with campus groups that are working to promote an inclusive environment on campus. For example, we participated in Senate Committee on Affirmative Action and Diversity meetings, the Winter Advising Forum and the 27th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Convocation. We also co-sponsored the UCSC delegation to the 22nd Annual Student of Color Conference organized by the University of California Student Association. If you are planning activities, projects or events that foster a more diverse and inclusive campus and are interested in partnering with us, please visit our website at http://diversity.ucsc.edu/div-funding.htm.
The UC Office of the President recently requested from UC chancellors and campuses information regarding their efforts to create a healthy and inclusive climate. In collecting this information for UCSC, we were very appreciative of the rich, extensive work done by the various divisions. We would like to take this opportunity to recognize, in particular, the great work by the Student Affairs Division and the Colleges—they continue to impress us with their proactive and responsive programming. Kudos!
As always, you can contact us at diversity@ucsc.edu, we look forward to hearing from you.
