In April 1968, two Berkeley campus unions—the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1695 representing clerical, technical, and professional workers, and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 1570 representing graduate students—held a work-stoppage and a teach-in on “campus racism” to honor the memory of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. who had been tragically assassinated in Memphis. Inspired by King's work and the AFSCME sanitation workers strike that he supported, the teach-in became a series of workshops that ultimately led to the development of a “white paper” with statistical data highlighting the ways the university harbored racism in its employment practices and in its admission of undergraduate and graduate students. Among its many demands, it called for the University: “to hire black, brown and red workers until the ratio of employees from these groups equals the ratio in the population; bring minority student enrollment and employment up to population ratios . . . publish the University census report showing the percentage of black, brown, and red employees by department; and make an additional report showing the classifications and promotions of black, brown, and red people in each department.”

1968 年 4 月，两个伯克利校园工会——代表文职、技术和专业工人的美国州、县和市政雇员联合会 (AFSCME) 地方 1695 和代表研究生的美国教师联合会 (AFT) 地方 1570——举行停工和关于“校园种族主义”的宣讲会，以纪念在孟菲斯惨遭暗杀的小马丁·路德·金牧师。受金的工作和他支持的 AFSCME 环卫工人罢工的启发，教学变成了一系列研讨会，最终导致了“白皮书”的发展，其中的统计数据突出了大学在其就业实践中隐藏种族主义的方式和在招收本科生和研究生时。在其众多要求中，它呼吁大学：“雇用黑人，棕色和红色工人，直到来自这些群体的雇员比例等于人口比例；使少数民族学生入学和就业达到人口比例。. . 发布大学人口普查报告，按部门显示黑人、棕色人种和红色员工的百分比；并制作一份额外的报告，显示每个部门的黑人、棕色人种和红色人的分类和晋升情况。”