Equity & Inclusion

When a Starbucks employee recently called the police on two black men who asked for a bathroom key but hadn’t yet ordered anything, it seemed a clear-cut case of racism leading directly to unfair treatment. Many outraged white customers publicly contrasted it with their years of hassle-free Starbucks pit stops.

Monday, Sept. 10, will be Michelle Thomas’s first day as UC Berkeley’s basic needs manager, a new role in the Division of Equity and Inclusion. Thomas — a licensed clinical social worker proficient in helping children, adolescents and families in community-based and outpatient crisis settings — will oversee the campus’s basic needs programs and services and provide case management for students experiencing financial, food and housing insecurity.

Dear members of the Cal community,

As the new academic year gets underway, I reflect on our progress over the past year to make Cal more inclusive, equitable and responsive as well as on the important work ahead this year including, but by no means limited to, addressing basic needs, advancing campus-wide accessibility, and strengthening trust and accountability in the institution – its structures, its practices, and its leadership.

Desmarie Jackson never thought she’d be accepted to UC Berkeley; she didn’t have the smarts or the money, she thought. Turns out she was wrong on both counts.

Desmarie, 17, was accepted as a freshman, beginning this fall. And thanks to the African American Initiative Scholarship, she can afford school, too.