Academic Senate (with aerial photo of campus in background)
Photograph © 2003 by Alan Nyiri, courtesy of the Atkinson Photographic Archive.

Committee on Diversity and Equal Opportunity (CODEO)

Committee Members

Meeting Schedule 2008-2009
Day Date Time Location Agenda Minutes
Monday October 5, 2009 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. 3135 Murphy    
Monday November 2, 2009 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. 3135 Murphy    
Monday November 30, 2009 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. 3135 Murphy    
Monday January 11, 2010 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. 3135 Murphy    
Monday February 8, 2010 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. 3135 Murphy    
Monday March 8, 2010 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. 3135 Murphy    
Monday April 12, 2010 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. 3135 Murphy    
Monday May 3, 2010 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. 3135 Murphy    
Monday June 7, 2010 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. 3135 Murphy    

Committee Charge

Duties

The primary mission of CODEO has been to provide advice to the University administration on policies/programs to advance faculty diversity, including the recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented minorities.

The Committee administers the biennial Fair and Open Academic Environment Award, and reports to the Division on recruitment, promotion, and retention of faculty from underrepresented groups. The Committee provides advice to the Academic Senate on issues relating to diversity and equal opportunity in the University community.

Membership

Seven voting faculty, representing all areas within the University, as well as representing, to the greatest extent possible, the diversity of the University community and of our society. Appointed by the Committee on Committees and confirmed by the Legislative Assembly for up to 3 years. In addition, there are 4 student representatives, 2 each from Graduate and Undergraduate Student Associations. Committee on Committees appoints and Legislative Assembly confirms the Chair.

Interactions with Administration

CODEO interacts with the Associate Vice Chancellor of Diversity, the Executive Vice Chancellor, and the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Diversity.

Issues, Concerns, Goals

Improving faculty diversity is an ongoing goal of CODEO. Prior institutional efforts to enhance diversity in the faculty have not been successful, even with the availability of affirmative action as a tool to accomplish this aim. UCLA's faculty is still overwhelmingly white (81%) and male (78%). Less than 1/20 faculty members are Latino/Hispanic, while nearly half of Los Angeles county's population falls into this ethnic group. In spite of common perception, the majority of new appointments are awarded to non-minority males, even though a significant proportion of recipients of doctoral degrees awarded by the University of California are women and/or members of under-represented minority groups.

In the future, it is hoped that CODEO will consider issues relating to faculty diversity, including the close review of hiring practices in departments that historically have not considered minority and women candidates, to assure that searches in such departments are conducted fairly and consider all qualified candidates. Also, departments should be monitored for marked discrepancies, in terms of pay, promotion, and job title/security, when there are significant allegations of discrimination based on sex or ethnicity. Finally, CODEO should continue to report on the ethnic and gender composition of UCLA's faculty, to allow continuing objective assessment of recruitment and promotion practices.

If the University is to respond adequately to the needs of one of the most ethnically-diverse populations in this country, some efforts will have to be made to safeguard equal access to faculty positions at UCLA.

 

Fair & Open Academic Environment Award

The recipients of the 2008 Fair & Open Academic Environment Award are:

Professor Susan Plann, Department of Applied Linguistics
Dennis Montoya, Graduate Student
Christina Walter, Undergraduate Student
Dena Chertoff, Department of Psychology

For news articles related to this award, please visit the following:

The Daily Bruin
UCLA Today

 

Chair: Ruth Bloch, History
Senate Staff Contact: Brandie Henderson, 310-206-3802, henderson@senate.ucla.edu

Other Links:

Chancellor's Advisory Group on Diversity Home Page

UCI Senate Bylaw Review

University of California Affirmative Action Guidelines for Recruitment and Retention of Faculty

If you are an Academic Senate Member and have an interest in serving on CODEO, please contact the Committee on Committees via Kyle Cunningham, email: kcunningham@senate.ucla.edu; phone (310) 825-1162. .