EXCLUSIVE REPORT: UC-San Francisco tries to bridge diversity gap by shelling out millions

Each year, colleges spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, some even millions, in an effort to foster more diverse campuses. Universities allocate funds for diversity centers, peer groups, and inclusivity measures all designed to make non-traditional and minority students feel more welcome. 

What is unknown, however, is whether pricey diversity efforts actually pay off.

At the University of California San Francisco, diversity-focused employees cost just over two million dollars annually, according to 2017 salary records obtained by Campus Reform from the University of California Office of the President.

[RELATED: EXCLUSIVE REPORT: UC-Berkeley spends $2.3 million annually on diversity employee salaries]

Campus Reform paired these names and salaries with the names and titles listed on the “staff” portion of the UCSF Office of Diversity and Outreach (ODO) webpage. In total, of those listed in both the salary data and on the university’s website, Campus Reform found that UCSF pays diversity-focused employees a combined annual total of at least $2,091,715 in gross wages. 

Diversity-focused staff included in this analysis, and listed on the ODO webpage, are employed in one of five campus offices: the Office of Diversity and Outreach, Office of the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination, Faculty Excellence & Outreach, Campus Advocacy Resources and Education (CARE), Center for Science Education and Outreach, and the LGBT and Multicultural Resource Centers.

Nine employees who were listed as working on one of these teams were not included in the most recently available salary data, which is from 2017. Those nine individuals’ salaries were not included in the final total of over $2 million. 

This article is the latest installment of an ongoing Campus Reform investigation into diversity spending in the University of California System, which is comprised of ten campuses. Campus Reform previously reported on diversity spending at the University of California-Berkeley and the University of California-Los Angeles, which doled out $2.3 million annually and $3.2 million annually, respectively. 

Total annual diversity spending among these three UC campuses is $7,671,554.

[RELATED: EXCLUSIVE REPORT: UCLA doles out $3.2 MILLION annually on diversity salaries]

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