Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action
UC Merced is committed to Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action and compliance with all laws and regulations pertaining to both.
UC Merced's Diversity Definition
At UC Merced, we believe that our differences — of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, socioeconomic status, abilities, experience, geographic region and more — enhance our ability to achieve the university’s primary mission of research, teaching and public service.
UC's Systemwide Commitment to Diversity
Diversity: Faculty and other academic personnel
The University of California was founded with the purpose of making higher education available to all California citizens—and fulfilling that purpose requires that we cultivate a community reflective of the richness and diversity of the state. Everyone in the university community has the right to work and study in an inclusive environment, one that respects the diversity of all its members. Moreover, the academic excellence of UC is fed by a plurality of ideas and perspectives.
Growing Diversity: Postdoc Fellowship Program Provides Fast Track to Tenure
The university has been more successful in recent years in hiring new faculty from under-represented groups. But minorities and women still make up a smaller percentage of new hires at UC than they do among the pool of Ph.D. students nationally. PPFP is working to change those statistics. fellowship program provides a fast track to tenure
UC LGBT Advisory Group Advances Recommendations to make campus more inclusive
University of California President Janet Napolitano announced in September 2014 a move to adopt measures aimed at providing a more inclusive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, staff and faculty at UC.
The UC-HBCU Initiative seeks to improve the representation of this population in UC graduate programs — particularly Ph.D. programs — by investing in relationships and efforts between UC faculty and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Faculty Demographics
UC Merced Institutional Research and Decision Support (IRDS)
Specialties and National Benchmark Data
Prior to beginning the search, the Search Committee should review the pool of U.S. degree recipients by race/ethnicity, gender, veteran’s status, and disability status that is specific to the specialty area(s) for the particular recruitment. These data are automatically provided in AP Recruit in the Diversity tab, based on the specialty areas specified in the Basic Recruitment section, and represent the broad benchmarking goals for the recruitment. The applicant pool should be compared to these data regularly during the application period to evaluate the search and recruitment outreach efforts.
Data Sources
To determine availability for tenured faculty, data on all research doctorate degrees awarded to US citizens and permanent residents within the United States by academic discipline, sex and ethnicity are compiled over a fifteen year period from 1991-2005; availability data for tenure-track faculty were compiled over the next five year period, 2006-2010 (data are drawn from the Survey of Earned Doctorates. These two combined time spans of data provide an appropriate benchmark to estimate potential pools of applicants for positions at the tenure and tenure-track ranks.
Affirmative action goals
As a federal contractor, UC Merced must establish and maintain an Affirmative Action Program and a yearly written Affirmative Action Plan (“AAP”), and fulfill requirements established by the Federal Department of Labor, Office for Federal Contractor Compliance Programs(“OFCCP”) to provide equal employment opportunity and nondiscrimination. The UC Merced AAP provides yearly data on groups that are underutilized on the Merced campus by job type and by schools and colleges. Underutilization is defined as having fewer minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, or protected veterans[1] in a particular job group than would reasonably be expected given their availability in the job market.
The Affirmative Action goals for searches reflect this underutilization. We set our annual percentage goals equal to availability for all underutilized job groups and must make good faith efforts to recruit a broad and inclusive pool of qualified applicants. Affirmative action goals have been established where underutilization has been identified using the “any difference rule.” UC Merced’s goals are directed to achieve a level of gender and ethnic representation equal to availability in all job groups.
The tables linked to in AP Recruit are taken from the UC Merced AAP, divided by job types and Schools/Colleges. A shaded cell denotes underutilization of a group.
Please note that AP Recruit invites all individuals applying for senate faculty positions to voluntarily self-identify their gender, race/ethnicity, disability status, and status as a protected veteran. The OFCCP requires that we ask individuals to self-identify, but individuals may choose not to reveal this information without any negative repercussions.
It is important to be informed about and know the distinction between Federal Affirmative Action requirements and California Proposition 209.
California Proposition 209
In 1996 the voters of California passed Proposition 209, now part of the California State Constitution (Article 1, §31(a)) which prohibits discrimination against or preferential treatment to “any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, education or contracting.” It does not, however, prohibit actions necessary to establish or maintain eligibility for any federal program, where ineligibility would result in loss of federal funds to the University. Therefore, UC Merced is obligated to take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity in employment, but we may not set aside positions for specific groups.
In addition, Proposition 209’s prohibition against discrimination is consistent with University policy implementing federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination in employment on the bases of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer‐related or genetic characteristics), ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, or status as a covered veteran. The prohibition against discrimination supports the University’s commitment to address the barriers that face under‐ represented groups in academic careers and to serve the needs of our diverse state.
Federal Affirmative Action Requirements vs. California Proposition 209
• Affirmative Action relates to recruitment. Federal regulations require collection of gender/ethnicity/disability/veteran status data along with good faith efforts to obtain a broad and inclusive candidate pool.
• Proposition 209 relates to selection. State law prohibits both discrimination against or preferential treatment to a group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.
• DO diversify the applicant pool. DO NOT extend preferences.
Related policies and guidelines:
Academic Personnel Manual 035 ‐ Policy on Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination
Office for Federal Contractor Compliance Programs
Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act
Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act
[1} A protected veteran is defined as a disabled veteran, a recently separated veteran, an armed forces service medal veteran, or a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge was authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.
