Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

The UCLA Lambda Alumni Association is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in the LGBTQ+ community, at UCLA and beyond. Here you can learn how social justice is infused into UCLA Lambda Alumni Association’s foundational documents, policies and procedures, and volunteer leadership culture.

Bylaws

Lambda Alumni’s bylaws (governing document) ensure that whenever possible, selection of Board Chairs will consider aspects of identity including gender and race/ethnicity, with the intention to ensure our leadership is representative of the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community.

Institutional Leadership & Board Demographic Report

Lambda has completed our premiere Board Demographic Report. This data will inform our future policies, programs, and goals, as we strive to be as diverse and inclusive as possible. Many thanks to our Engagement Chair, MJ Ibale '16, for leading the charge on this effort.

Lambda has volunteer leadership representatives on UCLA Alumni Association’s Diversity Advisory Committee and sits as a representative on the UCLA committee on LGBTQ Affairs.

Lambda often presents best practices on inclusive programming at the annual UCLA Alumni Leadership Conference.

Student Support

When selecting scholarship recipients, Lambda considers how intersectional oppression creates educational disparities. We are in the process of rethinking our scholarship program to consider whether academic merit is a fair standard upon which to award financial assistance, and how we can use our financial resources to address these gaps.

Lambda recently initiated two “Queer Bruins of Color” alumni panels, one for Freshman admitted students and one for Transfer admitted students, to help UCLA recruit a diverse student body.

To learn more and to get involved please contact our Student Support Committee.

Engagement Committee

Lambda Alumni’s Engagement Committee is tasked with fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion among the board, across association programs, and among members. This committee is currently responsible for:

• Advocating for improvements to UCLA Alumni data collection to ensure that networks can accurately assess important characteristics of event attendees and network membership, in order to identify opportunities to further engage marginalized and under-represented members of the LGBTQ+ community;
• Creating and enforcing accessibility guidelines to ensure all Lambda events are physically and economically accessible to all;
• Providing consultation to all of the Lambda board’s committees and working groups to ensure they have strategic objectives that reflect our values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Lambda created its own Event Accessibility and Inclusion Checklist to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion is built into the planning of all our events and programs.

Lambda also co-programs with UCLA Alumni diversity networks in an effort to provide programming for our diverse and intersectional community. See Lambda's past programs.

Special Projects

Lambda is in the process of compiling the first comprehensive LGBTQ+ timeline in the university’s history, which features the often ignored stories of QTBIPOC (Queer, Transgender, Black, Indigenous, People of Color) alumni, staff, and faculty. Lambda presented the working timeline at the launch of UCLA’s Centennial Celebration (UCLA Alumni Day 2019) and Lambda continues to work with UCLA Library’s Special Archives to complete this project.