Dear Bruin Community:
Academic Senate Chair Shane N. White and Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (VC-EDI) Anna Spain Bradley have agreed to co-charge an Academic Senate and Administration Joint Task Force on Investigatory and Judiciary Processes (JTF-IJP) with the ultimate goal of promoting non-discrimination and collegial conduct. The JTF-IJP will identify, inventory, and map all UCLA-based investigatory and judiciary processes and aggregate associated data. This Task Force is the first step in a multi-phase UCLA effort. Future phases will address stakeholder experiences and needs, policy recommendations, and implementation plans.
The resulting report will document the fact-finding and mapping to create a shared understanding of how each of the responsible offices currently operationalizes their investigatory and judiciary processes. The report will answer the following questions: What are all of the various UCLA-based investigatory and judiciary processes? In what offices are they located? How are they working on the ground? How many “cases” does each office handle and how long do they take? How are they resourced? Lastly, the report will also note areas of gaps or overlaps in the mapped investigatory and judiciary processes.
The Academic Senate and Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion have convened this Task Force to strengthen UCLA’s civil rights climate and to advance our Bruin values, which include a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. In addition, recent changes in law and policy, a rising demand for civil rights investigatory services at UCLA, recommendations made by the Moreno Recommendations Implementation Committee Report, and a newly initiated review by the Office of the President of the University of California (UC)’s discrimination and harassment policies and practices also make it timely to strengthen UCLA’s procedures and practices for protecting civil rights.
The full charge for the joint task force is:
- Identify and inventory the current UCLA investigatory and judiciary processes throughout UCLA including the UCLA Health system;
- Document the aggregate number and type of investigatory and judiciary “cases” handled by each office while preserving privacy and confidentiality;
- Inventory and document the current allocation of resources for UCLA investigatory and judiciary processes and their associated offices;
- Identify areas of overlap, redundancy, and gaps in investigatory and judiciary processes;
- Identify any structural challenges that limit the effectiveness, timeliness, or clarity of investigatory and judiciary processes;
- Identify relevant federal and state laws and regulations and university regulations that may affect the investigatory and judiciary processes.
The JTF-IJP will convene formally in September 2021. It will provide its report and recommendations by February 2022 to the leaders of the UCLA Administration and the UCLA Academic Senate. Vice Chancellor Mike Levine and Professor of Law Clyde Spillenger will co-chair the JTF-IJP, comprised of the following four administrators and four faculty nominated by the VC-EDI and the Academic Senate leadership respectively.
- Chandra Bhatnagar, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Civil Rights, Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
- Medell Briggs-Malonson, Chief Health, Equity and Diversity, UCLA Health
- Karis Chi, Senior Counsel, UCLA Legal Affairs
- Sandra Graham, Distinguished Professor, Presidential Chair in Education and Diversity
- Moira Inkelas, Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management
- Sheryl Kataoka, Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences
- Vilma Ortiz, Professor, Department of Sociology
- Jasmine Rush, Interim Dean of Students, UCLA Student Affairs
Dr. April de Stefano, Academic Senate Executive Director, and Ryan Adserias, Chief of Staff to the VC-EDI, will co-lead the staff support.
Sincerely,
Shane N. White
Chair, UCLA Academic Senate
Anna Spain Bradley
UCLA Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
