Cultivating a Diverse Music Education Institution
UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music Embraces Diversity and Change
The Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA is taking significant steps to foster a more diverse and inclusive community within its ranks. The school is actively working to recruit, hire, support, and retain a more diverse faculty, staff, and student body, particularly candidates from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) backgrounds.
One of the school's recent achievements includes a 21% increase in the percentage of transfer students, a doubling of African American transfer students, and a 38% rise in the number of low-income transfer students. This increase was facilitated through a new agreement with LACC (Los Angeles City College).
In addition, the school is considering offering increased financial support for historically underrepresented students, particularly African American students, through emergency funds, scholarship funds, and continued support of dedicated scholarship funds. One possible approach is to implement transfer student scholarships and transfer plans designed to help increase the percentage of first-generation, low-income students from traditionally underrepresented communities.
The school is also establishing an Anti-Racism Action Committee to critically examine its practices and offer a concrete plan of action. The committee, which will include a diverse cross section of voices representative of the school community, will work on educating the community on topics such as implicit bias, prejudice and discrimination, structural racism, white supremacy, and cultural sustainability.
The work of this committee will be embedded in the school's long-term strategic plan, and a draft of the strategic plan will be submitted to campus leadership in October. The committee will meet throughout the summer and share regular updates with the school community.
The school is committed to closely examining its relationship with local law enforcement and UCPD's (UCLA Police Department) practices and policies. This commitment comes in response to numerous letters expressing concern about UCLA's association with police, including the LAPD's (Los Angeles Police Department) use of Jackie Robinson Stadium to detain protesters and process arrests.
Staff, students, and faculty who have concerns or witness acts of discrimination can reach out to the school's ombudsman, Associate Dean Arturo O'Farrill, confidentially. The school also provides a resource for reporting incidents through UCLA Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, which can be contacted at [email protected] or (310) 825-3935.
The Herb Alpert School of Music affirms that Black Lives Matter and will listen to, advocate for, protest alongside, and uplift BIPOC voices. The school encourages continued feedback and ideas, and volunteers to join the committee's important efforts.
For authoritative and updated information on these topics, contacting the school’s communications office directly may be advisable. The Herb Alpert School of Music’s Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing is Russell Kelban, reachable at [email protected] or by phone at 310-825-4215.
The Herb Alpert School of Music is planning to provide increased financial support for historically underrepresented students, including scholarships and emergency funds, as part of their initiatives to foster diversity and inclusion in the business of music education and self-development. In line with this, the school is establishing an Anti-Racism Action Committee, which will critically examine its practices and offer recommendations for improving diversity and inclusion in jazz education and the wider music industry.
