Chapman University

Chapman created the Faculty Diversification Initiative (FDI) in 2020. The initiative creates a focused funding and recruitment process to identify and employ outstanding minority faculty members, with the goal of hiring two to three new diverse faculty members per year.

For Fall 2020, Chapman created a "Tunnel of Oppression" self guided programming which educates the community about "privilege, power, and oppression" surrounding topics such as racism.

Effective September 2020, Chapman is leading "an initiative to shift search committee training sessions to focus on diversity and inclusion."

Effective September 2020, Chapman's working group is developing DEI training for "all students, faculty, staff, administrators, and board members."

Chapman will "update the curriculum to include diversity."

For 2021-2022, Chapman's working group is working towards creating "a new GE requirement that directly addresses racial and ethnic diversity." Also, Chapman's "First-Year Foundations" curriculum might soon include diversity topics. Other curriculum changes are also being considered for both undergraduates and graduates.

Effective September 2020, diversity training is now required for orientation.

Chapman offers an Ethnic Studies minor, which studies race, ethnicity, and indigeneity with a focus on the "histories, cultures, perspectives, and community work of marginalized racial and ethnic groups in the United States."

Effective in the fall of 2023, Chapman will require all incoming new students under the 2023/24 catalog to complete a 3-credit DEI course prior to graduation. The goal is that the DEI graduation requirement ensures that students "engage constructively with diversity issues within an academic setting." DEI courses will cover issues including race, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, age, and disability.

Chapman is considering additional training on implicit bias for faculty.

On the evening of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, Chapman held an event titled, "Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on the Significance of Race."

Chapman created a DEI Task Force which will "manage funds raised for the Schmid College Faculty Fund which are used to support Schmid College DEI Initiatives."

Effective September 2020, Vice Provost Lawrence Brown was appointed to Presidential Advisor on faculty diversity and was given an "initial $500,000 budget" as a "welcome recommitment to building a more inclusive faculty."

Effective September 2020, Chapman's working group "urges that a plan for incentives and rewards for diversity-related research and creative activity, teaching, and service be developed" for faculty.

Chapman created a Strategic Plan for Diversity and Inclusion for 2017-2022.

In January 2021, Chapman student philanthropists from the Panther Experiential Philanthropy Project (PEPP) showed financial support to nonprofits committed to anti-racism.

Chapman holds numerous events as part of its "Anti-Racist Programming."

Chapman created the Office of Diversity and Inclusion in 2014.

Chapman lists numerous resources for the anti-racist movement.

Chapman created the Diversity Infusion Project in 2014, offering "a series of workshops focused on creating an awareness of diversity within all curricula."

The Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences offers various interdisciplinary minors that focus on identity, including Africana Studies, Disability Studies, Ethnic Studies, Latinx and Latin American Studies, LGBTQ Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies.

Chapman has a Latinx Staff and Faculty Forum, an LGBTQIA+ Staff & Faculty Forum, and a Black Staff and Faculty Forum. These forums provide staff and faculty support to students who have these identities.

The Student Government Association at Chapman has a Diversity Affairs Committee.

Effective September 2020, Chapman will 'create inclusive programming, including events" and "update the website to convey, as accurately as possible the importance of diversity to that unit."

In 2015, "the task force proposed intentionally rearranging the existing busts to highlight the different representations that are present on campus and symbolize the importance of diversity to the campus. One particularly compelling proposal was to move the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. bust from Moulton Hall to Memorial Hall. As an historic and iconic building, this is a more prominent location for Dr. King and would build a connection to the historic speech he gave at Chapman College in December 1961."

Effective September 2020, in order to "identify and promote diversity within art collections and campus buildings," the Director of the Escalette Collection collaborated with administrators and "expanded the collection to highlight and promote diversity and inclusion and connected the collection with public and co-curricular programming."

Effective September 2020, Chapman will "consider a 'percent-for-arts' policy to fund the diverse and inclusive environment. Adapting this widespread policy, Chapman would allocate a small percent of building construction or renovation budgets (up to 1%) for the purchase or commissioning of artworks that ensure campus spaces are not just enhanced by art but create inclusive spaces."

On June 3, 2020, Chapman released a statement saying, "We mourn the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and so many other black Americans killed by racially motivated violence." Shortly after, a town hall discussion was held.

The dean of students "is assembling a committee of students to review and evaluate the extensive diversity and inclusion initiatives in place and those planned."

The Office of the Provost sponsored the Chapman Diversity Project beginning in Fall 2014.

Chapman University Community Relations spotlighted a students' work in antiracism on Facebook.

A professor questioned Kamala Harris' US citizenship and many Chapman students and professors pushed back, saying the professor's views don't reflect the majority of the university.

In June 2021, Chapman segregated graduates into groups based on students’ racial, gender, and other immutable characteristics. Group-based ceremonies include “Black Graduation,” “Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Graduation,” “Lavender Graduation” (for LGBTQ students), and “Disability Graduation."

Chapman University expelled a student after he uttered a racist tirade in a university classroom and made derogatory comments about gay students.

In January 2023, a mural was installed outside of the Cross Cultural Center that incorporates cultures and symbols representing global diversity.