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University of Oregon

Undergraduate School

Mailing Address
1585 E 13th Ave.
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Phone
(541) 346-1000
Email address
admissions@uoregon.edu
School Information
"Nestled in the lush Willamette Valley, with an easy drive to both the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade Mountains, the University of Oregon is renowned for its research prowess and commitment to teaching...Our students are smart, creative, and increasingly diverse. We support and celebrate their successes, and we work hard to provide inspiring educational opportunities in the classroom and beyond. Not so small that everyone knows you. Not so large that you feel lost." The university enrolls over 22,600 students, has a 16:1 student-teacher ratio, and offers over 325 degree and certificate programs. (Source: https://www.uoregon.edu/about)
General Information
The University of Oregon has taken multiple concrete steps to affirm its support for anti-racism initiatives. In a symbolic move, the University took actions to cover murals which contained "racist" imagery. Additionally, the university is considering an endorsement of Black Lives Matter, as well as defunding the police. No mandatory Critical Race Training sessions are yet required of students. However, see developments below:

Actions Taken

Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • The University Senate has its own Anti-Racism Academy where it "continues to examine how to ensure that [UO teaches] within inclusive classrooms and [builds] tools to evaluate whether [UO is] achieving this goal."
Curriculum Changes and Requirements
  • University launched a new black studies minor.
  • The University of Oregon Student Government is working with administrators in the university to implement Critical Race Theory curriculum to become a graduation requirement for undergraduate students and all bachelors degrees.
  • Annually, the SOJC’s DEI Committee recommends a "Common Reading" book for the whole community. The 2021-22 Common Reading included books "Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants", "So You Want to Talk About Race", "Algorithms of Oppression", "Minor Feelings", and "On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life."
Political Actions and Support for Anti-Racism
  • The university discussed endorsing Black Lives Matter.
  • In an April 14, 2021 letter to the community, the Provost said UO has been "actively engaged in the implementation of House Bill 2864, a piece of statewide legislation calling on all...in higher education to approach [their] work with cultural humility."
Program and Research Funding
  • The university received a $4.52 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to create a new institute dedicated to research on racial and climate justice.
  • The university will be creating an $11 million research and policy center focused on racial disparities and resilience.
  • UO's School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC) has a Diversity Excellence Scholarship that supports students from underrepresented populations and helps advance the school’s commitment to building a more inclusive and diverse student body. Students can use the scholarship to pay for all educational expenses, including tuition, fees, books, supplies, and room and board.
  • The Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center offers a scholarship for incoming first-year students through graduate and law students with the purpose of supporting the continuation of enrollment or degree completion for Black students. Award allocations are based on academic classification and range from $1,000–$6,000.
Re-Imagining Policing
Resources
  • The University’s Division of Equity and Inclusion outlined various steps it took to offer courses, training programs, and resources for DEI.
  • The University’s Division of Equity and Inclusion supports the school’s “five strategies groups: Asian, Desi, and Pacific Islander Strategies Group, Black Strategies Group, Latinx Strategies Group, Native American Strategies Group, and the Deconstructing Whiteness Working Group” which advocate for equity and inclusion throughout the campus.
  • UO Libraries has "Antiracist and Inclusion-Building" readings and media for the Senate Antiracism Academy. Ibram X. Kendi's book "How to Be an Antiracist" and TED Talk "The Difference Between Being 'Not Racist' and Antiracist" are recommended materials.
  • In efforts to combat racism, the Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence has a Student Leadership Team that plans and leads workshops, discussions, and activities for the annual New Student Fall Retreat specifically for first year and transfer students from underrepresented backgrounds. Members of the leadership team have to undergo ten-week of intensive diversity training, which cover intersectional issues, leadership development, fostering difficult conversations, and conflict resolution.
  • UO Libraries has a list of books and other resources that specifically address systemic racism and ways to combat it. The list includes books such as "Black Marxism" by Cedric J. Robinson and "Stamped from the Beginning" by Ibram X. Kendi.
  • The Office of the Vice President for Equity and Inclusion promotes inclusive excellence by working to ensure equitable access to opportunities, benefits, and resources and through engagement with the campus and the community. It strives to embed the IDEAL (Inclusion Diversity Evaluation Achievement Leadership) framework in its work.
  • The Center on Diversity and Community (CoDaC)'s mission is to "[advance] inclusive excellence at the University of Oregon through critical thinking and an ethic of care." The center offers faculty development, graduate support, and implicit bias workshops.
  • UO's SOJC Diverse Alumni Mentoring Network is a collective of SOJC alumni who volunteer their experience and time to help students of diverse cultural, ethnic, and economic backgrounds adjust to the UO system, the school’s culture, and navigate professional fields.
Symbolic Actions
  • Name of Matthew Deady, first president of the UO Board of Regents, may be removed from campus building.
  • The University will be spending $31,940 to cover four murals which contain “racist, exclusionary language and imagery.”
  • In the Department of Philosophy's Antiracist Statement, it declared that the department "categorically rejects racism, white supremacy, and police brutality", asserted that the "United States is built upon stolen and looted Indigenous land under the justification of manifest destiny and settler-colonialism," and affirmed Fannie Lou Hamer's words that “nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”
  • The University has a "Continuum of Becoming a Thriving, Anti-Racist and Fully-Inclusive Institution" resource, which is an "Equity and Inclusion analysis of where the UO has been and where it seeks to go with respect to inclusive excellence, thriving and antiracism at the individual, interpersonal, institutional and organizational levels."
Last updated February 2nd, 2024
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