UC reaches voluntary agreement with U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights
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President Michael V. Drake, M.D., shared the message below on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024.
To the UC Community,
The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) received complaints of discrimination based on actual or perceived shared ancestry pertaining to the UC Davis, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz campuses. I am writing to share that the University has reached a voluntary agreement with OCR to resolve these complaints.
The agreement builds on the University’s ongoing efforts to combat discrimination and harassment based on national origin, including Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim ancestry, and/or association with these actual or perceived identities. Those efforts have included the launch this year of a Systemwide Office of Civil Rights as well as the systemwide Anti-Discrimination Policy. We have also issued a systemwide directive on policies impacting expressive activities to protect the UC community from harassment, threats, or violence of any kind, and to maintain access to classrooms or other University facilities.
As I have said before, there is no place for bigotry, hate, or violence at the University of California. We will not tolerate acts of discrimination and harassment and will respond promptly and effectively to all reports. We remain deeply committed to cultivating a safe, respectful, and welcoming environment for our students, faculty, staff, patients, and other visitors, free from discrimination and harassment. If any student, employee, or third party believes that they have experienced such discrimination or harassment, we encourage them to report it to their campus civil rights office, which can provide support resources.
I appreciate the tremendous amount of work many people across the University have undertaken to address these concerns. We will continue to do all that we can to support the University community through these complex issues.
Sincerely,
Michael V. Drake, M.D.
President, University of California