UC ANR is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and upholding the civil rights of our staff, academics, clients, partners and campus communities. As a recipient of federal funds through the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA), the University of California is required to follow federal civil rights laws, policies and regulations that prohibit discrimination. The USDA NIFA Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity conducts regular civil rights compliance reviews of every funded institution, focused either on research or extension activities, to ensure compliance with civil rights laws and policies in the use of these funds. The review seeks to gain compliance with federal civil rights and equal opportunity laws and regulations. All activities funded by USDA NIFA must comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VI, and its regulations. This includes nondiscrimination and equal opportunity provisions that prohibit exclusion based on race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.

We are currently working with USDA NIFA to provide data on the University of California civil rights policies and processes related to research for our scheduled 2025 USDA NIFA civil rights compliance review for UC ANR, UC Davis Agriculture Experiment Station, UC Berkeley AES and UC Riverside AES. In early February 2025, USDA NIFA representatives will interview relevant leadership and staff, as well as randomly selected AES Principal Investigators and AES graduate students to capture a general overview of the funded research program. Later this year, USDA NIFA will share their findings and UC ANR will work with NIFA to develop and implement an improvement plan should they find any gaps in our civil rights compliance. 

I would like to take this opportunity to share the UC ANR Civil Rights Resources Guide, which compiles information from across our UC locations and from NIFA. It is important that we familiarize ourselves with the policies and available resources regarding civil rights, including non-discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual violence, disability and language access to support our colleagues to foster a safe, inclusive and welcoming community in which to conduct our critical work for California.

At UC ANR, we hold ourselves to a high standard in upholding civil rights and expect to have a successful review process with USDA NIFA. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with their specialists to make any necessary improvements to our policies and practices, and to ensure that we are not only compliant, but upholding civil rights at the highest possible level.

If you have any questions about this process, please contact me at bdhales@ucanr.edu or Kathryn Stein at Kathryn.stein@ucop.edu.

Sincerely,

Brent Hales
Associate Vice President