Utica College

All faculty, staff, and administrators working at Utica College are required to complete the Intergroup Dialogue, Diversity Equity and Inclusion module.

The Sociology Minor and the Gender Studies Minor both include a discussion of race as part of the guiding perspectives in the curricula.

The Law, Justice, and Society Minor requires a course on race.

Utica College funds both the Black Alumni Association's Jonathan Adewumi '86 Memorial Scholarship and the Dean Alane Varga Black Lives Matter Social Justice Scholarship, the latter being a scholarship that is awarded to students who demonstrate "a commitment to fostering a positive, inclusive and equitable community through engagement in activities furthering social justice."

In 2020, Utica College joined the "College and Community Partnership for Racial Justice Reform" alongside local institutions. This partnership plans on being a "resource for the community and local government in response to the Black Lives Matter movement and, specifically, to Governor Cuomo's executive order 203." In order to do so, the colleges involved will evaluate their criminal justice proceedings, conduct a population wide survey, and take part in a lecture series discussing the BLM movement and policing. The partnered colleges will reach out to local officials and will also distribute their findings to the public.

Utica College holds a series titled "Dialogue on Race and Equity." These dialogues include a two part program discussing the death of George Floyd.

Utica College has a DEI Collaborative which was established in 1990. The DEI Collaborative carries out Unity Marches regularly. It also carries out meetings and events consistent with its mission of "fostering diversity in perspective, background, and experience."

Utica College is part of the Liberal Arts College Racial Equity Leadership Alliance. This alliance "seeks to help professionals at colleges develop and achieve equity goals, better understand and correct problems, avoid and recover from racial incidents, and foster sustainable cultures of inclusion." To do this, LACRELA holds a monthly eConvening Series.

The Utica College library holds a collection titled "Race and the Black Experience in the United States." This collection includes book on the subject of policing, racial justice, and anti-racism. Ibram X. Kendi's novel, "How to be an Antiracist," is among the novels in the collection.

Following the death of George Floyd, President Casamento issued a statement saying, "Words cannot fully capture our disgust and outrage over the brutal murder of George Floyd. We cannot accept this senseless act or the social injustices behind it. At the same time, we cannot condone the violence and destruction that has followed, as much as we understand the history that has provoked it."

One of the central values that Utica College holds is "diversity of perspective, background, and experience in an equitable, respectful, and inclusive environment."

In response to the news surrounding Jacob Blake, Utica College released a statement in August, 2020 stating, "As an academic community, and particularly an institution that educates and prepares future criminal justice professionals, we must take this opportunity to teach, learn, and reflect on the meaning of social justice and the important role our future graduates play in supporting and defending it."