UCLA EDI office (termed DEI elsewhere) being revised, split

In case you missed it from other sources last week, the following announcement was released on Oct. 17th at a low key level:

Announcing the Office of Inclusive Excellence

Interim Chancellor Hunt shared the following message with the Bruin community:

Dear Bruin Community:

Inclusive excellence — the recognition that our university’s success is closely linked to nurturing the talents and enhancing the well-being of a diverse community — is a core value of UCLA and a central theme of Creating the Future: UCLA Strategic Plan 2023–28. A strong campuswide culture of inclusive excellence is essential if UCLA is to thrive as an institution and if we are to prepare students to succeed in an increasingly globalized world. It is with this in mind that I write today to announce a structural change within our university and the evolution of our Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion into the new Office of Inclusive Excellence. 

The reasons for this change require some context. Since its formation in 2015, UCLA’s EDI Office has laid the groundwork for a campus culture that is welcoming to and supportive of all people. Among the office’s many accomplishments, it has created structures to help cultivate inclusion and respect, adjusted the ways in which UCLA approaches the recruitment of students and employees from diverse backgrounds, and improved our mechanisms for addressing instances of discrimination and harassment on campus.

The office has historically maintained two primary focus areas. The first is on research and programming aimed at preventing harassment and discrimination; and the second is on accountability, with the Office of Civil Rights managing the assessment and investigation of civil rights complaints. 

While this dual focus has in some ways been advantageous, a recent review of the EDI Office — which included extensive discussions with campus stakeholders — found that UCLA would benefit from a cabinet-level administrative unit focused exclusively on proactive efforts to strengthen our campus climate and foster a culture of engagement and learning across differences. This review also determined that more closely connecting the Office of Civil Rights to the university’s other investigatory functions would improve collaboration and coordination, data sharing, trend analysis and risk prevention efforts. 

This leads me to the changes we are announcing today. The functions of the EDI Office that are currently focused on improving the campus climate — the Office of the Vice Provost and the Research & Bruin Engagement Office — will form the core of a new Office of Inclusive Excellence. Partnering with campus initiatives such as Rising to the Challenge, our HSI initiative, AANAPISI, Bruins Rising, Faculty Forward, and Dialogue across Difference; as well campus units like Student Affairs and the Institute on Democracy, Education and Access, this office will play a central role in developing programs to support a healthy campus climate and activities that build a culture of engagement, learning, dialogue and respect for all. 

The current EDI Office’s investigative functions that comprise the Civil Rights Office — the Office of the Assistant Vice Chancellor; the Discrimination Prevention Office; the Staff, Diversity & Equal Employment Opportunity Compliance Office; and the Title IX Office — will become part of UCLA’s Compliance Office. While maintaining important connections to the Office of Inclusive Excellence, this closer coordination between the Office of Civil Rights and the other functions of the Compliance Office will help ensure that adherence to our standards around respect and protection of civil rights are on a par with all of UCLA’s other regulatory obligations. 

This week, we will formally launch a search for a new vice provost to head the Office of Inclusive Excellence, aiming to select a scholar and leader who is an expert in the art and the science of creating inclusive campuses. Our search will include listening sessions with the Bruin community this fall, and our goal is to appoint a leader in 2025 to take over from Interim Vice Provost for EDI Mitchell Chang, who has stewarded the EDI Office since 2023. Over the next several months, an external consultant will work with the EDI Office and Compliance Office to facilitate the transition of our Office of Civil Rights. 

I want to be clear that the changes we are announcing today are structural in nature. They will not entail any employee layoffs nor changes in EDI employees’ duties, and there will be no reduction in the overall budget for UCLA’s EDI efforts associated with these shifts. 

By centering inclusive excellence, we can better achieve UCLA’s mission of research, education and public service; more meaningfully serve our communities and more fully meet our university’s public mandate. We are confident that a vigorous and empowered Office of Inclusive Excellence will help strengthen UCLA’s position as one of the most diverse and outstanding universities in the world. 

Sincerely,

Darnell Hunt, Interim Chancellor