University of Vermont

On June 29, 2023, UV's President issued a statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action which states the following: "Our admissions processes reflect our commitment to inclusive excellence. Our current processes fairly and holistically consider academic, nonacademic, and relevant contextual factors of each applicant to achieve a diverse student body in the broadest sense of that word. The Court’s rulings will require us to ensure that each of our processes and programs is designed to achieve these means in a manner consistent with the equal protection standards described by the Court. Our admissions team will continue their collaborations with appropriate university offices to understand and apply today’s ruling and ensure UVM’s processes remain compliant."

"Amazing Grace: Finding Answers Together" is a series of anti-racism teach-ins that strive to explore, explain, and eradicate racism.

The University of Vermont has a General Education Diversity Requirement where all students must complete “one 3-credit course from Diversity Category One (D1) (Race and Racism in the U.S.)” and “a second 3-credit course from either Diversity Category One (D1) or Diversity Category Two (D2)(the Diversity of Human Experience).”

CESS’ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan committed to an effort to “ensure that proposal guidelines for internal grants (e.g., the CESS Strategic Innovation Fund program) to reflect specific criteria around diversity, equity, and inclusive excellence, and give preference to high quality proposals that demonstrate impact on these criteria.”

The College of Arts and Sciences has a Critical Race and Ethnic Studies minor program.

The university recently hosted a teach-in where it asserted that "whiteness" established "social control" and is "intertwined with systemic racism". Whether this presentation will lead to a formal university policy is not yet known.

University of Vermont’s College of Education and Social Services offers anti-racism resources, anti-racism affinity spaces, and an anti-racism instructor guide.

CESS will “create a mentorship and retention program for CESS undergraduate and graduate students from historically marginalized backgrounds.”

CESS set a goal to “create a CESS diversity and inclusive excellence webpage encompassing our strategic priorities and impact, while integrating content throughout all CESS web pages.”

The University of Vermont Libraries has a research guide dedicated towards “Racial Justice & Anti-Racism Resources.” One of the many resources within the research guide is Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to Be an Anti-racist.”

The Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion hosts several programs and initiatives, including the “University Diversity Council,” “Teach-in: Finding Answers Together,” and “Amazing Grace: Finding Answers Together.”

The Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion offers several Signature Events, such as the Health Equity Summit and the Inclusion Excellence Symposium.

The University of Vermont’s Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion has a site dedicated towards “Inclusivity Professional Development & Resources.”

UVM's Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) program is "committed to addressing racism and oppression at individual, institutional, and societal levels." HESA has an Anti-Racism Working Group that meets weekly to develop initiatives. One of the initiatives is anti-racism affinity spaces.

UVM has an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Resources page where it provides specific resources for BIPOC and White allies about racial inequity and justice.

UVM has various DEI and cultural student organizations such as the Black Student Union, Black Lives Matter Collective, and Justice for All VT, whose mission is to "dismantle systemic racism, eliminate poverty and ensure equity through advocacy, education, and relationship-building."

UVM has various identity centers including the Mosaic Center for Students of Color, the Women & Gender Equity Center, the Prism Center, the Interfaith Center, the Center for Cultural Pluralism, and the President's Commission for Inclusive Excellence.

UVM offers a class titled "Antiracism and Health", where the course introduces "ideologies, policies, and systems of power that give rise to racist behaviors and stereotypes that drive the ways that people interact." The course centers on the antiracist framework outlines by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.

The College of Education and Social Services made a statement as part of “Solidarity Against Racism, Police Brutality, and Injustice.”

The College of Education & Social Services crafted the 2020-2023 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan which included a goal to “Work collectively to propose shared terminology and definitions (e.g., critical consciousness, multicultural competency) and establish a process for engaging faculty, staff, students and community partners in discussions of key concepts underpinning our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion” in addition to providing faculty and staff with professional development programming.

Another goal of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan from CESS is to “continue to prioritize the hiring of faculty and staff who embrace the College’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion centered practices in their research, teaching, and practice” in addition to faculty “who are members of groups historically marginalized.”

The College of Education & Social Services will “continue to support regular faculty-, staff-, and student-led discussions about issues of climate, discrimination, and race open to CESS students, faculty, and staff.”

The University of Vermont’s Institute for Agroecology released its Antiracism and Justice Statement, stating, “We center anti-racist work while challenging all forms of oppression.”

In March 2021, students called on a professor to resign over his video claiming he was discriminated against for his "whiteness" and that there is discrimination in general against white people at UVM. A petition calling for resignation garnered more than 1,800 signatures.