University of California, Santa Cruz

On June 29, 2023, UC Santa Cruz's Chancellor and Provost issued a statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action which reads in part as follows: "We are disheartened by today's U.S. Supreme Court decision...Taken together with other federal and state actions across the country, today’s decision is not simply about admissions, but the latest attempt to dismantle evidence-based efforts aimed at reducing systemic barriers to opportunity experienced by historically marginalized populations, including communities of color...The decision today will thwart efforts by public and private institutions across the country to educate a diverse population of students. That is harmful to higher education and ultimately our nation... While today’s court decision requires universities across the country to follow this new interpretation of the law, it also requires campus administrators, faculty, and staff to continue our efforts to expand outreach and opportunity in whatever ways we can."  

The Black Experience Team at UC Santa Cruz partners with the Chancellor’s Diversity Advisory Council in order to "advise the Chancellor and Campus Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor (CP/EVC) on ongoing recruitment, retention and campus climate strategies surrounding African-American, Black, and Caribbean (ABC) students."

One of the goals UC Santa Cruz's 2023 Strategic Plan is to "[i]ncrease the successful recruitment and retention of a diverse community of excellent faculty, staff, and students."

The Department of Human Resources offers a training module titled "Managing Implicit Bias in the Hiring Process" for "UC People Managers and those involved in the selection process for an open recruitment."

UC Santa Cruz's 2023 Strategic Plan states, "At present, students are the only group with mandatory DEI training."

As part of its faculty and staff educational programming, the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion encourages UCSC employees to "participate" in the "Empowered Together certificate program" which is "designed to strengthen employees’ competencies and capacity in supporting their units’ efforts related to student success, classroom and workplace inclusion, and greater accessibility, all in pursuit of fostering a sense of belonging and building a connected community."

The UC Santa Cruz 2023-2024 General Catalog states that for the General Film and Digital Media Major, "At least one of the upper-division courses must meet the department's diversity requirement."

As part of the 2023-2024 General Catalog, the Art Department at UC Santa Cruz states, "DEI is woven throughout our curriculum to deepen the educational experience and broaden the artistic environment preparing students for creative participation in a multicultural world."

The STEM Minor in Education at UC Santa Cruz "requires one upper division elective course to be an education diversity course." Related courses include "Multicultural Children's Literature for Elementary Classrooms," "Race, Class, and Culture in Education," and "Language, Diversity, and Learning."

The Education, Democracy, and Justice Major at UCSC deals in part with "theories of cognition, learning, and pedagogy; and issues of equity and cultural and linguistic diversity in education and in public school policies and practices." Additionally, the major's "sociocultural perspective emphasizes equity and social justice related education in and out of school...."

UC Santa Cruz outlines its bias incident reporting protocols and states that it is "committed to maintaining an objective, civil, diverse and supportive community, free of coercion, bias, hate, intimidation, dehumanization or exploitation."

UC Santa Cruz's 2023 Strategic Plan states that "hiring search committee members are required to complete the online Managing Implicit Bias series required of faculty members serving on search committees."

Students who major in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies "develop a deep understanding of how race and other modalities of power have structured human life and have informed the imagination of social transformation and justice in the past and the present." 

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Diversity Research Programs at UC Santa Cruz "support[s] students from underrepresented and underserved backgrounds to achieve their educational and career goals by providing them with hands-on research experience and fostering a sense of inclusion, acceptance, and community."

On October 6, 2023, UC Santa Cruz News announced that a "one year, $100,000 grant from the Clarence E. Heller Foundation will support a University of California, Santa Cruz-led project to recruit and retain underrepresented students in agroecology and sustainable food systems programming at UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, and UC Berkeley."

In 2025, the Institute for Social Transformation offers the "Transforming Futures" scholarship program (up to $8,000) in order to "open up opportunities and remove financial barriers for first-generation, underrepresented, undocumented, and low-income students at UC Santa Cruz so they can participate in career-advancing summer internships off campus."

The Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offers the Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program.

The Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion hosts the Student-led Campus Climate Organization for Research and Equity which is working towards the Hate/Bias Response Program.

The school has an initiative for the Envisioning Student Community, Advocacy, Leadership, and Access internship program known as ESCALA, which “supports the success of undocumented undergraduate and newly graduated students through personal, academic, and career development.”

The Equity & Inclusion in Hiring workgroup “is a new campus initiative with the purpose of creating a comprehensive, actionable plan for instituting an equitable, inclusive hiring process that ensures UC Santa Cruz recruits a diverse workforce.”

The Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning has projects known as “Keep Teaching - Antiracist Teaching Practices” and “Keep Teaching - Equity & Inclusion in the Remote Classroom.”

The Teaching & Learning Center “uses research and equity-minded practices to strengthen the culture of teaching, promote student success and equitable outcomes, and support teacher-leaders at UC Santa Cruz, a thriving minority-serving research institution.” The TLC offers workshops and resources for inclusive teaching.

UCSC’s Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning has a page for “Ideas for Implementing Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices.”

Through its Sustainability Office, UCSC "actively strives to advance different cultural definitions of how to care for environmental spaces and human communities, and promote multicultural inclusion in sustainability initiatives across campus." The office's initiatives include the "People of Color Sustainability Collective" and the "Sustainability & Social Justice People Planet Power Summit."

The school has what is known as the Student Diversity & Inclusion Internship Program which “is dedicated to promoting and developing culturally aware and humble student interns who have a critical analysis of systemic power and privilege and who will serve as role models in support of equity, diversity and inclusion efforts at UC Santa Cruz.”

The Institute for Social Transformation provides "Anti-racism and Criminal Justice Reform Resources" and issued the following message in 2020: "In the social sciences we are all too aware of the structural forms of violence inflicted on communities of color in society, as well as the endemic anti-Blackness that pervades our US history and culture. The current constellation of events highlights, once again, the racism and conditions of white supremacy Black people are forced to negotiate on a daily basis."