University of California, Irvine

Following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery, UCI created the End Racism Initiative in June 2020. This initiative requires the training of all work group leaders regarding topics of "systemic racism," effective 2021.

UCI offers numerous training for implicit bias, anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The UCI Strategic Plan states that it would "Educate UCI faculty, staff, and administrators about implicit biases that may create barriers to building diverse and interdisciplinary teams."

UCI offers an Inclusive Excellence Certificate Program.

Within the Black Thriving Initiative, the Inclusive Excellence Term Chair Program awards $30,000 annually for researchers "advancing the Black experience and serving as drivers of well being for UCI and external community members."

In 2020, UCI began "investing in student achievement and honoring Black faculty" through numerous programs.

The UCI School of Social Sciences created a Black Lives Matter Research Scholarship.

Since the establishment of the UC-Historical Black Universities and Colleges Initiative grants in 2011, UCI has been awarded 11 grants. In 2021, the UC-HBCU grant of $600,000 for three recurring years in order to support 30 students.

UCI awarded researchers the Spencer Foundation Racial Equity Special Research Grant in June 2021.

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering created the Anti-Racism Work Group for 2021-2022.

The Chancellor’s Inclusive Excellence Award is a "two-year, non-renewable appointment for selected new UCI Senate faculty..." The award provides "$50,000 to awardees to support continued scholarship, pedagogy, and exemplary service leadership contributing to diversity, equity, and inclusion at UCI."

UCI's Office of Inclusive Excellence outlines its funding proposals on the topic of "Understanding Extremism" and state the following: "Understanding extremism is a fundamental responsibility for citizenship in the 21st century. The scale and scope of extremism poses a threat to our civic institutions, democratic values and our very multi-cultural society. It demands more than an initiative. The Confronting Extremism Program initially grew out of needs to understand rising extremism in the nation while fortifying our resilience as a campus community. Nearly 50 programs have been funded to-date to advance knowledge and positive actions for inclusive excellence."

UCI's Office of Inclusive Excellence "Inclusive Excellence Spirit Awards" support faculty activities which "promote equity, diversity, and inclusion on campus among faculty, students, and staff, as well as the community served by UCI."

UCI's School of Humanities' Center for Liberation, Anti-Racism & Belonging identifies "research questions, explore methodologies and experiment with diverse publication dissemination methods that bring attention to and work towards social justice." The Center "seeks to create a research justice university."

The UCI Police Department made a Campus Commitment to Inclusive Excellence by "communicating campus expectations that all sworn officers promote equity, diversity and inclusion in serving the community." Every member of UCIPD must complete the Inclusive Excellence Certificate Program.

UCI provides numerous resources and definitions for anti-racism and related terms. Ibram X. Kendi's book, "How to Be an Anti-Racist," is a recommended reading.

The UCI Black Thriving Initiative "recognizes and responds to anti-Blackness as an existential threat to our mission as public research university" and holds numerous events and programs to discuss anti-Blackness. The Black Thriving Institute also explores "how anti-Blackness, racial justice and slavery implicate and shape human histories, contemporary realities and futures of nation-states, cultures and communities, and people within and in relation to the African diaspora."

In 2020, UCI created an External Advisory Board to look after the affairs of the Black Thriving Initiative and the Office of Inclusive Excellence Speakers Bureau.

UCI has an Academic Excellence Black Scholars House which is a first-year residential experience that supports diverse students.

The UCI Counseling Center offers numerous resources for "racial trauma."

The Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation has an "Anti-Racist Pedagogy Reading List." UCI also provides a list of anti-racism books from UCI Law, and the UCI Library hosts an "eBook Collection on Understanding and Combating Racism" in addition to a media series of "Anti-Racism Films." Additionally, the Office of Inclusive Excellence provides resources for microaggressions and UCI Student Affairs provides staff with resources on how to "combat anti-Black racism."

The UCI Sustainability Resource Center made a statement in solidarity "with the movement for Black lives" by saying, "We emphatically condemn the continued killing and harassment of Black folks by police departments and a culture of white supremacy across the nation." The center provided resources in conjunction with this statement to further its mission.

The University's Office of Inclusive Excellence describes the role of an "Equity Advisor" and states the following: "An Equity Advisor is a senior faculty member, appointed as Faculty Assistant to the Dean in their respective schools. Equity Advisors participate in faculty recruiting by approving search strategies and raising awareness of Best Practices. Additionally, they organize faculty development programs, with both formal and informal mentoring, and address individual issues raised by women and underrepresented minority faculty."

UCI's Office of Inclusive Excellence links to many resources on the topic of "Campus Ally and Awareness" which include "AB540 and Undocumented Student Ally Training" and "ZotAbility Ally Training."

UCI's Office of Inclusive Excellence offers Diversity Planning Resources and Tools to "support the development, implementation, and assessment of school, unit and program diversity plans."

On February 14, 2022, a UCI News article titled "Critical race theory, explained" reports on a CRT video series in which "Five UCI professors from the schools of humanities, law and social sciences have collaborated on a series of 10 videos on critical race theory." Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, Chancellor’s Fellow, director of the UCI Humanities Center and professor of Asian American studies, explains that "Critical race theory is the study of race and racism and how these categories and structures of inequity are connected to other forms of hierarchy in our society,"

UCI's Cross Cultural Center outlines its many "Activism and Social Justice Programs" including: "Careers and Social Justice Series," "Social Justice in Action Series," and "Queer & Race Series."

UCI is #CallingAllAnteaters to take the pledge against "anti-Blackness," "anti-Black micro- and macro-aggressions," and "unconscious and conscious acts of bias, prejudice, and bigotry."

UCI's Writing Center hosts an annual Black Lives Matter Writing Contest. The 2021 contest has a theme of "A Call for Accountability: Reassessing How We Care for Black Womxn."

UCI appointed a new Director of Diversity Initiatives in the School of Biological Sciences.

On June 7, 2021, UCI named a stretch of road near campus "Michael Drake Drive" after the former chancellor emeritus.

The Office of Inclusive Excellence and the president have made numerous statements of solidarity and support for events surrounding Juneteenth, George Floyd, and Daunte Wright, among many others.