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One year ago today, news of George Floyd’s death in police custody reverberated across the country and around the world, leading to Black Lives Matter protests and, at UC Davis, a strengthening of the university’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

“George Floyd’s tragic murder only reaffirmed the need to build an inclusive environment that recognizes and respects people of all backgrounds and experiences,” the chancellor said today (May 25), reflecting on a year of progress in diversity, equity and inclusion at UC Davis. “We were motivated and well positioned to take our DEI efforts to a new level.”

First the campus mourned with a Community Moment of Silence for George Floyd, whose death led to a police officer’s conviction for murder; Breonna Taylor and Stephon Clark and other people of color killed by police; and other victims like Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who died in a confrontation with two white men who chased him down in an Atlanta suburb.

Chancellor May knew there was hard work ahead. In written and spoken remarks in the days after George Floyd’s death, he said: “Inclusion — like social justice — doesn’t come easily. It requires collective effort. It requires each one of us working to make a difference, whether that’s through getting involved in your community, peaceful protesting or doing what you can to change procedures that reflect bias.”

Campus departments and units took up his call, despite struggling with the pandemic at the same time, putting diversity, equity and inclusion top of mind in mission planning and training.

Strategic Goal 3

UC Davis has long embraced diversity and inclusion in the , adopted in 1990 and updated in 2015 with a prologue acknowledging “that our society carries within it historical and deep-rooted injustices and biases”; in programming from the Office of Campus Community Relations; and in UC Davis’ , adopted under Chancellor May’s leadership in 2018, the year after he arrived.

Strategic Goal 3 states: “Embrace diversity, practice inclusive excellence and strive for equity. Make UC Davis a place of excellence for learning and working by supporting a culture that values the contributions and aspirations of all our students, staff and faculty; promotes wellness and a culture of sustainability; and cultivates the open interchange of ideas.”

A year before the George Floyd killing, Chancellor May established the , unifying the Office of Campus Community Relations, Academic Diversity and the Office for Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and appointed Renetta Garrison Tull as the first vice chancellor of DEI.

In one of their first actions after George Floyd’s killing, Vice Chancellor Tull and her team developed their Resources for Racial Trauma webpage, including announcements for readings and racial healing circles, and compilations of and . These resources are now folded into a , including an Anti-Racism Syllabus and 11 Suggested Actions Toward Anti-Racism.

From allyship to action

All along the way, Vice Chancellor Tull called upon the campus community to “turn allyship into action.” The response has been overwhelming.

“There have been a number of programs that have developed over the last year, in response to George Floyd’s death, but also in recognition of some long-standing issues that still needed to be addressed,” she said. “Schools, colleges and units developed new positions, doubled down on diversity efforts and invested in new programs.”

Graduate Studies developed an and held its earlier this month. The Center for Educational Effectiveness in Undergraduate Education developed several to address issues such as “Foundations of an Anti-Racist Pedagogy” and “Beyond 101:  Addressing Racism and Microaggressions in the Classroom.”

DEI added more such as “Unpacking Oppression,” and faculty and staff came together to offer their own sourced resources and solutions such as the , as they taught and worked through the pandemic.