Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

The future of genomics can be found in the Nuñez Lab

September 18, 2023
by Alexander Rony
James Nuñez is a rising star in epigenetics, which studies how small chemical modifications on DNA are associated with human health and disease. Yet despite all his professional accomplishments, Nuñez is blown away by his students at UC Berkeley.

OTSP Crip Camp Essay Contest Winners

September 18, 2023

In partnership with On the Same Page(link is external), the Division of Arts & Humanities sponsored a student essay and video contest. We asked students to stream the documentary (available for free here(link is external), including a version with audio description and open captions), and invited them to respond to one of the...

https://artshumanities.berkeley.edu/news/otsp-crip-camp-essay-contest-winners

Most Californians oppose cash reparations for slave descendants, IGS Poll finds

September 12, 2023
Edward Lempinem

California voters are broadly opposed to paying the state’s Black residents to compensate for the longstanding harms of slavery, with opposition extending across party lines, according to a new poll released by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies.

The IGS Poll found that 60% of Californians acknowledge the deep and continuing human damage caused by centuries of slavery and the segregation and persecution of Black people that continued long after slavery legally ended in 1865. But strong...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/09/12/Most-Californians-oppose-cash-reparations-f…

‘This camp changed the world’: New exhibit tracks the rise of the disability rights movement and its ties to UC Berkeley

September 15, 2023
Dan Vaccaro

Summer camp is a rite of passage for many kids in the United States. Swimming. Arts and crafts. Long conversations in the bunkhouse. And maybe even some precious memories to carry with you for a lifetime.

For the campers and counselors at Camp Jened that experience meant even more. Jened was a sleepaway camp for people with disabilities that originally operated in upstate New York from 1951 to 1977. Amid the modest buildings and overgrown fields, the young people encountered something radical: a world that was built to include them, rather than ignore them.

That experience...

https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/news/disability-rights-exhibit

Funky and free-spirited: How a 1970s summer camp started a disability revolution

September 5, 2023
Anne Brice

All incoming UC Berkeley students watched Crip Camp, a documentary about a summer camp in New York's Catskill Mountains, as part of the program On the Same Page.

It was summertime in the early 1970s in New York City. Fifteen-year-old Jim LeBrecht boarded a school bus headed for the Catskill Mountains, home to Camp Jened, a summer camp for people with disabilities. As the bus approached the camp, he peered out the window at the warm and raucous group below.

"I wasn't exactly sure who was a camper and who was a counselor," he said. "I think that'...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/09/05/crip-camp-on-the-same-page

Latinx Experience at Cal

September 16, 2022
Melissa Mora-Gonzalez
Reflecting on My First Year.

Now that Hispanic Heritage Month has arrived, I’ve realized that this is my second year at Berkeley (a little late for the realization, I know). The past year has really flown by — I remember being an admitted freshman and virtually attending bridges’ Senior Weekendand listening to the Raices members discuss their experiences with being Latinx at Cal.

Hearing their...

https://life.berkeley.edu/latinx-experience-at-cal/?utm_source=Internal%20Commun…

UC Berkeley alum Hua Hsu wins 2023 Pulitzer Prize

May 9, 2023
Michelle Phillips

Pulitzer Prize award against a blue backgroundHua Hsu, who graduated from UC Berkeley in 1999, is a 2023 Pulitzer Prize winner in the category of memoir or autobiography for his book, Stay True, Columbia University announced Monday, May 8, on the recommendation of the Pulitzer...

Author Interview: Professor Elora Shehabuddin speaks about her award-winning book, "Sisters in the Mirror"

June 8, 2023
Chauncey Walker
Elora Shehabuddin, Professor of Gender & Women's Studies and Global Studies, speaks on her award-winning book, Sisters in the Mirror: A History of Muslim Women and the Global Politics of Feminism.

In this interview, Elora shares the inspiration for her book, as well as the questions that guided her when writing Sisters in the Mirror. Taking both a historical and transnational approach, Elora analyzes the feminist movements that have emerged from Anglo-American West and Muslim South Asia. Elora also reflects on her introduction to gender and women's studies...

Juana Maria Rodríguez: Sex work is a queer issue

June 27, 2023
Ivan Natividad

Illustration of Juana Maria Rodriguez against pink and lime green backgroundSex work is considered one of the oldest professions in history. But in contemporary American culture, it is still a taboo topic. And due to the criminalization and stigma that surrounds the industry, the lives and stories of sex workers often get lost and devalued.

...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/06/27/juana-maria-rodriguez-sex-work-is-a-queer-i…

Author Interview with Sandra Eder: How the Clinic Made Gender

June 13, 2023
By: Alexander Rony and Hagit Caspi

Sandra Eder is a history professor at UC Berkeley. In 2022, she wrote How the Clinic Made Gender: The Medical History of a Transformative Idea, a book that explores the history of how the concept of gender emerged out of the medical sector and influenced society. Eder was interviewed during Pride Month 2023 as issues surrounding gender expression and identity were at the forefront of public discussion.

What sparked your idea to write a book on this topic?

In my research, gender always played an important role, but I increasingly became interested in the...