EXCLUSIVE: U of Illinois commits $2 million EVERY YEAR for 'systemic racism' research
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is spending $2 million annually to sponsor research on systemic racism, law enforcement, and racial health disparities.
The guidelines state that “university members are encouraged to collaborate with community organizations or PreK-12 educational institutions.”
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is spending $2 million annually to sponsor research into systemic racism.
The school’s Office of the Chancellor will support a $2 million annual expenditure for “intellectual and scholarly talent” on “systemic racism and social justice,” “law enforcement and criminal justice reform,” and “disparities in health and health care” — challenges which the university calls the “most important and complex challenges facing local communities, states, and our nation.”
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The funds will support research that studies “structural and institutionalize systems of disparity and disenfranchisement” or “lead[s] to the removal of barriers that inhibit access to education, opportunity, support, and resources” in these areas.
A “Community-Based Innovation” project can receive up to $25,000; a “Systemic Institutional Change” project can receive up to $75,000; and a “Societal Impact” project can receive up to $100,000.
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According to documents obtained by Campus Reform through a Freedom of Information Act request, employees from the school’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion — including Vice Chancellor Sean Garrick and Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity Gio Guerra — were involved in approving the communication of the program to the university community.
The research proposal guidelines explain that “university members are encouraged to collaborate with community organizations or PreK-12 educational institutions.”
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Among other criteria for approval, the best applications will involve “participation of groups, faculty, and staff who are underrepresented, which is essential to the health and vitality of Illinois’ community of scholars.”
Campus Reform is working to determine the source of the funding and has asked the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for more information; this article will be updated accordingly.
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