Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Guide

Originally funded as a nine-month pilot program for Vietnam veterans, Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) is now in its 25th year, serving veterans of different generations. Though initially encountering resistance from the Education Department, today the program is on solid footing.

According to data provided by Justice for Vets, an advocacy group that provides training for court staff, two-thirds of veterans who go through the system successfully complete their programs, and 88 percent of courts see a reduction in veterans' arrests. According to a 2015 U.S. Department of Justice study, the number of veterans incarcerated in state and federal prisons and local jails decreased from 203,000 in 2004 to 181,500 in 2011-12.

Student veterans represent a unique population on college campuses. Not only are they
transitioning back to civilian life but also into a new role as college student. This paper
describes the attempts of one university to aid in that transition through the means of
expressive arts. A detailed description of the Paper Peace and glass pouring workshops and
accompanying pictures is provided in this paper. In addition, reflections on the workshops
and plans for future workshops are described.

USERRA also provides reemployment rights for those who are deployed from their civilian jobs, including those who have disabilities regardless of whether or not the disability is connected to a veteran's service. Related to service-incurred disability, USERRA specifically requires accommodations, including obligations to assist veterans in their reemployment to become qualified for their former job or other jobs through reasonable efforts to provide training or retraining, a step not required for non-veterans with disabilities under the ADAAA. USERRA's disability definition is less stringent than the AD AAA's, and it applies to all employers, unlike the ADAAA, which applies only to employers with 15 or more employees. Importantly, even the preamble of the law calls out the Supreme Court's affirmation of the protections and broad interpretation in all the law's iterations over 45 years, demonstrating long-term commitment to these issues: "This legislation is to be liberally construed for the benefit of those who left private life to serve their country in its hour of great need.... And no practice of employers or agreements between employers and unions can cut down the service adjustment benefits which Congress has secured the veteran under the Act." See Fish gold v. Sullivan Dry dock and Repair Corp., 328 U.S. 275,285 (1946), cited in Alabama Power Co. v. Davis, 431 U.S. 581,584-85 (1977); King v. St. Vincent's Hosp., 502 U.S. 215,221 n.9 (1991).