UC Santa Cruz is giving out thousands in DEI grants

The University of California, Santa Cruz’s Art’s Dean is awarding diversity, equity, and inclusion grants of up to $3,000 to students who demonstrate their commitment to DEI principles.

One question the school wishes students to pursue in applying for the grant is, “What steps are you taking on in intellectually interrogating your own personal story and your institution’s history in investigating and generating impactful actions towards DEI?”

[RELATED: NSF gives Catholic school millions to promote DEI in STEM]

Those who receive the grant are tasked with work on helping the division “lead the nation in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) through the arts.” The grant is titled “University of the Future, Now!” The deadline to apply is Friday, December 13.

“These grants encourage our students to participate in the division’s aspirations to lead the nation in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) through the arts,” the school’s advertisement says. 

Among the stated aims of the grant are a more diverse faculty and a reformed curriculum.

Specifically, the dean is seeking “projects that fulfill the goals of ensuring an inclusive climate, diversifying the faculty, decolonizing the curriculum, and creating pipelines and career paths with and for underserved communities including recruiting and retaining a diverse staff and student body.”

The page prompts students to “refer to the literatures and practices that inform your approach to your project.”

“You may describe your experiences and struggles regarding diversity, equity and inclusion at the university,” it continues.

[RELATED: Emory University advertising multi-million dollar DEI grants by NIH]

The Dean of Arts at UC Santa Cruz is Celine Parreñas Shimizu, who took the position in 2022.

The university’s article announcing her new position at the time billed her as “[a]n accomplished filmmaker and author, and one of the country’s foremost scholars of Asian American cinema and media studies as well as Asian American gender, sexuality, and feminism.”

Among her works are “The Proximity of Other Skins,” “Straitjacket Sexualities,” “The Hypersexuality of Race,” and “The Movies of Racial Childhoods: Screening Self-Sovereignty in Asian / America.” Shimizu also edited “The Feminist Porn Book” and “The Unwatchability of Whiteness.”

“The Hypersexuality of Race” won the Association for Asian American Studies “Best Book in Cultural Studies.”

Many colleges and universities offer grants encouraging students and faculty to pursue DEI projects. 

Elon University, for example, is awarding $500 DEI mini-grants for faculty and staff.

Campus Reform contacted UC Santa Cruz and Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.