Dear UCLA Community:

The Moreno Recommendations Implementation Committee announces the publication of our Final Report (PDF) concerning the progress of UCLA’s implementation of the Moreno Report, which is available on the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion’s website. The Moreno Recommendations Implementation Committee (MRIC) was created to monitor and assess UCLA’s activities, progress, and challenges regarding implementation of the Moreno Committee recommendations.

Recalling that the creation of the Moreno Committee was authorized by Chancellor Gene Block and implemented by former EVC/P Scott L. Waugh to establish an independent, Blue-Ribbon Committee to investigate “ongoing diversity challenges.” This call responded, in part, to the concerns raised in 2012 by concerned faculty regarding persistent racial bias, discrimination and intolerance at the university. Racist actions, targeting Dr. Christian Head, Professor of Medicine, highlighted a negative campus climate, bias and discrimination against Faculty of Color at UCLA. The Moreno Committee, chaired by retired California Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Carlos Moreno, conducted interviews and gathered information on UCLA policies and procedures to investigate the UCLA campus racial climate. The Moreno Report (PDF) was submitted October 2013 and offered recommendations to address bias and discrimination against Faculty of Color. Then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris met with UCLA Chancellor Gene Block on January 10, 2014 to discuss the University’s plans to implement the Moreno Report recommendations.

MRIC provided detailed information to assist the Chancellor, the EVC/P, Senior Leadership and the wider community develop a comprehensive approach to faculty equity, diversity and inclusion at UCLA. The Report we issue today documents areas of success and challenge. It also offers ideas for consideration, evidence of “Promising Practices and Initiatives” and recommendations for continued progress towards achieving Inclusive Excellence at UCLA. Our recommendations are based on analysis of the University faculty landscape, institutional practices and the narratives of Faculty of Color. This Final Report represents both a record and an assessment. Our committee hopes it will also provide a reflection on, and roadmap to, achieving UCLA’s core values. We will be meeting with UCLA leadership to discuss our finding and recommendations.

We are confident improvement is possible with leadership from faculty and senior administration and with full engagement of the campus community. As UCLA marks its first century, Chancellor Block frames a central issue before us: “How should our society acknowledge, counter and make amends for long-standing racism targeting Black Americans and other people of color?” Towards the end of improving campus Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, he promised “…to take a hard look at how UCLA can better fulfill its commitment to welcoming, supporting and protecting all members of our community. We will continue to champion the change that is needed to move the campus to a place of true equity, where we honor our deepest values and fulfill our highest aspirations as a public university.” (Chancellor Gene Block, “True Equity,” UCLA Magazine, October 2020).

Respectfully Submitted,

The MRIC Committee