Equity & Inclusion

As nearly 42,000 students begin lugging college basics like backpacks, laptops and books to UC Berkeley for fall semester, the campus is unveiling new plans to arm all students with an even more basic necessity — healthy, affordable food.

A successful push last year to start helping an estimated 10,000 Berkeley students in need to sign up for CalFresh, a federally funded program that issues a free debit card for groceries to those who qualify, is intensifying, with a goal of 3,000 students applying in 2018-2019.

Within five years of graduating, a majority of UC’s students from low-income families earn more than their parents.

That data, captured in UC’s 2018 Accountability Report, shows the extent to which a University of California degree can be a great economic equalizer. Among the highlights:

   Susan O’Hara, a leader in the independent living and disability rights movement, passed away July 1, 2018, in her home in Berkeley. She was 80-years old. 

When Derek Coates was 10, he found out he had a degenerative eye disease and was going to gradually lose his eyesight. Over the next 30 years, his visual world shrunk until he became completely blind at 41. Now, as a disability compliance officer at UC Berkeley, it’s his job to make sure students with disabilities are getting the accommodations they need to be academically successful.

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The UC Berkeley African American Initiative has offered the first set of scholarships to Black students for the fall 2018 semester.

The initiative is a “a comprehensive effort to address the underrepresentation of African American students, faculty, and staff,” according to the UC Berkeley Division of Equity & Inclusion’s website. While 40 students were interviewed, only 28 were ultimately granted the scholarship, which was administered by the Cal Alumni Association.

Stephen Sutton is UC Berkeley’s new vice chancellor for student affairs, tasked with overseeing the student experience of Berkeley’s 30,000 undergraduate students and 11,000 graduate students. Chancellor Carol Christ and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Paul Alivisatos announced his appointment on Wednesday.