Portland State University

PSU released a statement on the U.S. Supreme Court's Decision on Affirmative Action stating, "Affirmative action in college admissions has proved a powerful tool for undermining historic racism and providing access to underrepresented populations." The University called the decision "deeply disappointing" and stated it "is committed to dismantling systems of racial oppression and is taking intentional action — what we believe to be essential and affirmative action — to work toward a society in which students who have been historically disadvantaged and discriminated against can thrive."

The University plans to "Recruit and retain a diverse student body, and ensure equitable outcomes for all students," according to its 2021-2024 Plan for Equity & Racial Justice. There are several initiatives to help reach this goal.

The Child, Youth, and Family Studies (CYFS) Program eliminated its application process and "implemented opt-in admissions once students have fulfilled major requirements." The department intended the change to "remove historic barriers most disadvantaging students from marginal positionalities (first-generation students, students of color, and others) who have reported viewing the application process as elitist and unnecessarily exclusive."

The office of Global Diversity and Inclusion provides a variety of diversity education workshops for students, faculty, and staff including: "Inclusive Hiring Workshops," "Culturally Responsive Workshop Series," and "Inclusive and Culturally Responsive Curriculum and Pedagogy Workshops."

The Office of Global Diversity and Inclusion provides many webinars on the subjects of equity, racial justice, and DEI practices in higher education, including: "Race, Power, & Privilege E-Course," "Tools for How to be an Anti-Racist," "Discussing Race and Racism in Campus Workplaces," and "Recruiting Diverse and Underrepresented Faculty and Senior Administrative Leaders."

According to the School of Business's 2023 update to its DEI action plan, it will "Offer workplace racial equity training sequence to all full-time faculty and staff." The School states that the training will "lead to increased awareness of systemic racial issues, improve teaching and mentoring, enhance student engagement and success, while reducing disparities and bias, additionally it improves recruitment and retention while strengthening community relationship."

Faculty in May 2021 proposed a two course requirement for all students in race and ethnic studies. The motion and two amendments passed at the June 2021 Faculty Senate meeting.

The university's Transportation Research and Education Center will, "Change university curricula and experiences, so that future professionals understand the roles of racism, equity, and justice in transportation and have the tools to make change."

The university's Transportation Research and Education Center will, "Incorporate racial justice into TREC’s K-12 programs and professional development events."

The university said, "PSU will center racial equity, inclusion, and cultural responsiveness in student learning experiences...We will commit to anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and transformative experiences for all students at PSU...It is recommended that a group of students lead this work."

As part of its "Anti-Racism Statement," the Department of Sociology states that it is "[c]reating a plan for diversifying course readings in all sociology courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels to include more scholarship by and about people of color." Additionally, the department is creating a "standing departmental committee on racial justice that will review revised course syllabi...." 

All undergraduate students must complete the "Race and Ethnic Studies requirement." First-year and second-year students must take two classes "with a central focus on race, ethnicity and systemic oppression" while transfer students have to take at least one class. The requirement dictates that "One course must focus on the U.S. experience; the second course must center the experiences of groups under European and U.S. colonialism and imperialism beyond the United States."

PSU has a "Bias Review Team" which is "committed to addressing bias incidents on campus and in our community and will provide individuals with resources and support when someone experiences a traumatizing even."

The University requires hiring managers and "all search committee members" to take the "Toward More Inclusive Hiring" training before the hiring process.

Graduate Assistants (GA) "are responsible for delivering curriculum" as Teaching Assistants and instructors. They receive "DEI and pedagogy training" which consists of three workshops: "Decolonizing to Create Affirming Learning Spaces: Indigenous Values," "Building a Reflexive Teaching & Scholarly Practice," and "Inclusive Pedagogy Training." This training for PSU's over 200 GAs "can impact nearly every undergraduate student at PSU."

All faculty applicants are required to submit an "Inclusion Statement" that describes the applicant's "professional skills, experience, and/or willingness to engage in activities that would enhance [the] campus equity and inclusion efforts."

Faculty and staff in the School of Business "undergo training specifically focusing on Student and classroom interactions centering the BIPOC Student experience and issues around DEI." Full-time faculty and staff must attend "at least one" training per quarter.

The PSU School of Public Health announced its first anti-racism faculty fellowships.

The university's Transportation Research and Education Center will, "Support research that addresses racism and supports racial justice in transportation, and prioritize implementation of that research."

As part of its "Plan for Equity & Racial Justice," the university said, "Anti-Racism Faculty Fellowship Grants: Scholars were awarded between $100,000 and $120,000 each to advance social justice and support change."

The Office of Global Diversity and Inclusion facilitates the "President's Diversity Mini Grants Program" which "seek[s] to promote a positive campus climate for diversity and inclusion, support the development of culturally-responsive curriculum, diversity education and learning offerings, diversity programming, and assist in the recruitment and retention of a diverse student body, faculty, staff, and administration."

PSU's Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Research Scholars Fund "supports faculty who are furthering research aligned with Portland State University’s commitment to ending racial injustice, racism, and discrimination, while promoting diversity and equity."

The Gender, Race, and Sexual Prejudice Lab at PSU "examines contemporary forms and expressions of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination" and studies "bias directed toward racial minorities, women, sexual minorities, and other stigmatized group members."

PSU has a Diversity Scholarship to recognize and support "outstanding students from first generation and various cultural, ethnic and socio­ economic backgrounds, with diverse talents, interests, and life experiences." The 2024-2025 awardees receive tuition for 12 undergraduate credits covered.

In 2021, PSU received an $880,146 grant from Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission to fund an initiative that aims "to re-enroll and support underrepresented students who stopped attending PSU." The initiative has an "emphasis on reengaging BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), first-generation and low-income students."  

Campus safety officers will be disarmed and the Campus Safety Committee states that it would "engage in a collaborative process to understand the array of safety needs of the campus community and to reimagine an approach to meeting those needs that reflects our commitment to racial justice and human dignity."

The university's Transportation Research and Education Center offers resources and programs, such as Friday Transportation Seminars ("multiple events each term focused on recent research and practices at the intersection of transportation and equity"), racial equity resources, and the Equity in Transportation Book Club.

The OSHU and PSU School of Public Health hosted an event titled, "External Event: Exploring Anti-Racism in Health Professions Education."

The Indigenous Nations Studies program at PSU "focuses on studies and practices of Tribal critical race theory, decolonizing methodologies, traditional and cultural ecological knowledge, and contemporary themes in community with local, regional, federal, Tribal, and Native partners." Students at PSU can choose this program as a major or minor.

PSU's summer cohort, "Intercultural U" is a "nine-session, 25-hour program that explores topics related to the personal, cultural and societal aspects of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion." The school is looking forward to future cohorts because the "more employees who participate, the greater the cultural shift" on campus.

PSU's Advising and Career Services department issued an anti-racism statement which reads in part as follows: "Anti-Black racism is deeply ingrained in every facet of our nation, including our Higher Education system and thus pervades all aspects of the system and culture of Portland State University. Higher Education was not conceptualized with Black Folx [sic] in mind; it was made for a mostly homogenous group of white, middle class, Christian men."

PSU states that as "Oregon's only urban, public research university," it believes in "involving everyone, from freshmen to faculty" in "dismantling systemic racism, ending discrimination, and achieving social justice." The University aims to "[embrace] a culture that is antiracist."

The Conflict Resolution Department has an extensive "Land Conflict Acknowledgement" which recognizes "that the lands on which Portland State University stands today are the historic homelands of several bands of Chinook-speaking people." The "living document" condemns "the settler colonialism that displaces the indigenous population [and] simultaneously creates conditions of violence and exclusion for other groups of people."