University of California President Mark G. Yudof today (June 16)
named 17 members of his Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture
and Inclusion, which will work closely with a UC Board of Regents
committee to address challenges in enhancing and sustaining a
tolerant, inclusive environment on each of the university’s 10 campuses.
The Advisory Council includes the presidents of the California
NAACP and Skirball Cultural Center, the director of religious
affairs for the Islamic Center of Southern California, a veteran
civil rights activist now with the Four Freedoms Fund, the director
of the Latino Center for Medical Education and Research, the legal
director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the chair of
the systemwide UC Academic Senate’s University Committee on
Affirmative Action and Diversity. The other 10 affiliated members
named come from UC’s 10 campuses and include student representatives.
The 18-member Council — chaired by Yudof and including UC
Merced cognitive science Professor Teenie Matlock — will
identify, evaluate and share “promising practices” at other
institutions across the state and nation, and monitor and evaluate
the progress of each campus toward ensuring conditions that support
the university’s mission and provide equal opportunities for all UC
students, faculty and staff.
Reflecting on the broad and diverse points of view represented
by the members, Yudof said, “This council will bring us experience
and reason — voices that will help enrich our campus climate
so that every single member of the UC community feels welcome,
comfortable and safe.
“The issues we examine and the resolutions we achieve with the
council apply not only to the students. We want students, faculty,
staff and the local communities around the campuses all to have the
opportunity to participate in a nurturing and stimulating environment.”
The appointment of the Council on Campus Climate, Culture and
Inclusion follows a series of highly charged racial, religious and
cultural incidents during the past year on several UC campuses.
Each appointed member, except for the student members, agreed to
serve a three-year term ending June 30, 2013. Upon graduation, each
student member will be replaced by another student.
The council will meet for the first time the afternoon of June
30 at the UC Office of the President and provide regular reports
and updates to the Regents Ad Hoc Committee on Campus Climate,
chaired by Regent Eddie Island.
Locally constituted Climate Councils on each campus will set
metrics, monitor progress and report regularly to the systemwide
Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion.
In addition to Yudof, members of the Advisory Council on Campus
Climate, Culture and Inclusion are:
M. Ines Boechat
Chair, University Committee on Affirmative Action and
Diversity,
Systemwide Academic Senate
Professor, Department of Radiological Sciences, UCLA
Henry Der
Senior Program Officer, Four Freedoms Fund
Katherine A. Flores
Director, Latino Center for Medical Education and Research,
UCSF Fresno
Uri D. Herscher
President and CEO, Skirball Cultural Center
Alice A. Huffman
President, California NAACP
Imam Jihad Turk
Director of Religious Affairs, Islamic Center of Southern California
Shannon Price Minter
Legal Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights
David Stark
Executive Director, Stiles Hall, Berkeley, California
UC Berkeley Affiliated Member
Cheyenne Currall
Principal Officer, International Business Development,
UC Davis Health System
UC Davis Affiliated Member
Megan Braun
Undergraduate Student, President, ASUCI
UC Irvine Affiliated Member
Tyrone Howard
Associate Professor, Urban Schooling
Graduate School of Education & Information Studies
UCLA Affiliated Member
Teenie Matlock
Founding Faculty and Associate Professor of Cognitive
Science,
Cognitive and Information Sciences
UC Merced Affiliated Member
Yolanda T. Moses
Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Excellence &
Equity, and Professor of
Anthropology
UC Riverside Affiliated Member
Jorge Mariscal
Professor, Department of Literature
UC San Diego Affiliated Member
Joseph I. Castro
Vice Provost - Student Academic Affairs & Special
Assistant to the
Chancellor, Adjunct Professor of Family & Community
Medicine
UC San Francisco Affiliated Member
Beth E. Schneider
Professor of Sociology and Chair, Santa Barbara Division
Academic Senate
Committee on Diversity & Equity
UC Santa Barbara Affiliated Member
John Johnson
Graduate Student, President Graduate Student Association
UC Santa Cruz Affiliated Member
Jesse Bernal, who is at the end of his term as a student Regent,
is serving as staff to the Advisory Council.