University of Mississippi

"Diversity Education" and trainings will be expanded and available for all students, faculty, and staff.

The university offers multiple types of DEI training.

Ole Miss invited two speakers in March 2023 to speak on race, racelessness, and building community in an event titled "New Thoughts on Race, Antiracism and the Dream of Beloved Community."

The College of Liberal Arts states it is committed to "Anti-racism, Social Justice, and Equity" and its Equity Plan states it will "implement systematic and sustained equity training and education at all levels."

Curricular offerings in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion will increase.

The general education requirements for the BA and BS require students to take at least 3 credit hours of humanities courses, which include classes on African American Studies, Gender Studies, and Southern Studies among others. One specific class is "The South and Race" which "examines historical and contemporary dimensions of racial and ethnic relations in the U.S. South...and teaches students how to approach the subject of race and ethnicity from a critical perspective."

In contrast with its usual support of DEI and anti-racism initiatives, the university stirred up controversy when it fired anti-racist history professor Dr. Garrett Felber. The socialist Liberation newspaper called this an "unprecedented action" and the "most recent example of the university’s suppression of progressive professors and challenges to UM’s authority and racist donors."

The University has a "Bias Education and Response Team" and "members of the university community who have experienced or witnessed perceived/alleged bias incidents are encouraged to complete" a bias incident form.

All members of the Search Committee are required to "complete the Inclusive and Equitable Hiring Processes: Faculty and Staff Searches training offered by the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement before they can be assigned to serve on the committee." 

University of Mississippi faculty senate opposed anti-CRT legislation.

A "Chancellor's Diversity Fund" will be established to further "equity-in-action" plans.

The university offers the "Achieving Equity Grant" and "Faculty Development Grant."

Ole Miss has an Achieving Equity Grants Program, which is jointly administered by the Office of the Provost, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP), and the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement. This seed grant program is intended to support "innovative scholarly and creative efforts at UM that advance knowledge on topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion."

The Diversity Incentive Fund is a program that provides support for new and creative approaches to raising awareness, engaging learners, and changing behaviors around diversity and inclusion within the university community. Examples of programs that may be supported include lectures, symposia, workshops, conferences, and performances.

The Division of Diversity and Community Engagement has a Diversity Innovator Award, which recognizes faculty and staff who have demonstrated a commitment to the advancement of DEI at the University of Mississippi and beyond. Diversity Innovator Award winners will receive an award package including $750 in professional development/research funding, an engraved plaque, and campus-wide recognition for their efforts.

The Ben Williams Scholarship, which was formerly known as the Minority Alumni Scholarship, aims to "provide assistance for young Mississippians or lineal descendants of University of Mississippi alumni." Recipients receive $500 per semester.

The University facilitates an inclusive teaching-learning community for faculty "to redesign courses for inclusion and equity." The program "offers a limited number of grants for the design, implementation, and reporting of course revisions to enhance teaching and learning for all students but especially for those who have been systemically marginalized in higher education."

In 2021, the Center for Inclusion and Cross-Cultural Engagement established the Inclusive Excellence Retention Fund "to support students who have been outstanding in promoting diversity awareness, respect, and acceptance through education, advocacy, and outreach."

As a part of the Stronger Together Initiative, a reading guide for "How to Be An Anti-Racist" is available.

The Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement has a "Stronger Together" dialogue series that seeks to "provide opportunities for healing, effective allyship, and action that creates a better world."

The Stronger Together diversity initiative allows Athletics Departments "to promote social justice and racial equality through advocacy, awareness and education."

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology hosts a "Critical Race Studies Group." The group seeks to prevent and resolve "problems concerning race and racism" and aims "to move beyond the black/white binary, understanding that the category of difference known as 'race' intersects with other axes of difference, including but not limited to sex, gender, class, religion, sexuality, and nationality."

The Department of Psychology hosted a talk titled "The Psychology of Racial Bias in Policing."

The University is enacting steps to increase the "number of underrepresented groups employed at the University of Mississippi... to reflect a talented and diverse workforce at all organizational levels, especially tenure-track faculty, managerial positions and executive leadership positions."

According to the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, "the University of Mississippi spent $1,249,868 of its 2018-2019 budget on diversity-related operations, which include the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement and the McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement."

The Center for Inclusion and Cross-Cultural Engagement "is dedicated to creating a supportive and inclusive campus environment to complement the academic experience, connect and engage students with the university community, and provide opportunities for success in a multicultural society." It hosts many programs centered on equity and diversity.

The University appoints diversity liaisons to "provide support in advancing the implementation and adaptation of diversity, equity, and inclusion policy, practices, and procedures within their given context."

A "chancellor’s committee on race, history and symbols" will be organized.

The School of Social Work published an anti-racism statement on October 6th, 2020, where it stated its commitment to "dismantling the system of racism and oppression that perpetuates [state-sanctioned] violence, as well as social, economic, political, and environmental injustice."

The University's Celebration of Achievement "brings together students from historically underrepresented populations" in honor of graduates.

The English Department released "A Statement of Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" statement which says "The faculty of the English Department at the University of Mississippi embraces diversity, inclusion, and equity as central to the scholarly mission and humanistic values of [the] department."

The Department of Theatre & Film released a "Land & Labor Acknowledgement" that recognizes "the deep history of peoples impacted by the legacies of colonialism" and urges "all to honor and reflect on the legacies of the African diaspora and Black life and the ways these have shaped [the] world." 

The University's Strategic Plan states its goals are to "advance institutional capacity for equity, cultivate a diverse and equitable community, and foster an inclusive campus climate."