104: Ty-Ron Douglas: Bridging the academic and athletic worlds

Berkeley Voices

We’ve heard the acronym DEIBJ a lot on campus, especially in the past few years. For those who might not know, it stands for diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and justice. A growing number of people at UC Berkeley have positions dedicated solely to this incredibly important work.

But sometimes it’s hard to know exactly what DEIBJ means, what it actually looks like in practice — now, in our day-to-day lives, but also in the future, when initiatives and policies and other on-the-ground work has transformed our institution.

So, we talked with Ty-Ron Douglas. He's the associate athletic director of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and justice at Cal Athletics. Douglas, who joined Berkeley two years ago, explained the nuts and bolts of DEIBJ in his upbeat and clear-eyed way that he seems to apply to all things he does.

He also talked about growing up in Bermuda, a precocious kid feeling like he didn’t belong; why sport is a legitimate academic discipline; and how "justice is the juice" of DEIBJ.

"For us, for me, I really see this work as life and death," says Douglas. "Not just of human life or death, but also of potential, of that glow in a person's eyes when they know that they belong. You can see it, you can feel it. Belonging has a feeling, and you can feel the healthy space."

Listen to the episode and read a transcript on news.berkeley.edu.

Music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Photo courtesy of Ty-Ron Douglas.

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