The student regent is a position on the

University of California Board of Regents The Regents of the University of California (also referred to as the Board of Regents to distinguish the board from the corporation it governs of the same name) is the governing board of the University of California (UC), a state university sys ...

created by a 1974

California ballot proposition California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Proposition 4, to represent

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

(UC) students on the

university system A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

governing board A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

. Student regents serve an approximately one-year term as regent -designate, followed by a one-year term as a full voting member of the Regents.

Selection process

Virtually any UC student in good academic standing may apply to be student regent. Southern and

northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...

regional UC student nominating commissions annually select ten semifinalists from those who apply. These semifinalists are then interviewed by the University of California Student Association (UCSA) board of directors. The board chooses three applicants, who are then interviewed by the Regents’ Special Committee to Select a Student Regent. The Regents may reject the list of finalists. The committee then recommends a nominee to the full board of

University of California Regents The Regents of the University of California (also referred to as the Board of Regents to distinguish the board from the corporation it governs of the same name) is the governing board of the University of California (UC), a state university sys ...

, which then votes on the nominee. Once approved, the nominee becomes student regent -designate, shadowing the student regent for approximately one

academic year An academic year, or school year, is a period that schools, colleges and university, universities use to measure the duration of studies for a given educational level. Academic years are often divided into academic terms. Students attend classe ...

until the beginning of their formal, year-long term on July 1 of the next year. Traditionally, the position alternates between undergraduate and graduate students as well as between the various UC campuses. However, some students involved in the selection process have said it may be biased towards

graduate students Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

, as well as towards students from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

, traditionally considered the

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es of the UC system.

History

Student regents have been noted for their support of

affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

and

diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

, and opposition to

nuclear weapons research Nuclear weapons design are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate. There are three existing basic design types: # Pure fission weapons are the simplest, least technically de ...

and

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in contrad ...

increases. In May 2011, student regent Jesse Cheng resigned after being arrested for allegedly committing

sexual battery Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault, which is the act of creating reasonable fear or apprehension of such contact. Battery is a specific common law offense, although the term is used more gen ...

against a UCLA graduate student. Cheng was found responsible for "unwanted touching" by

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Education In the United States * University of California system * University of Charleston, West Virginia * University of Chicago, Illinois * University of Cincinnati, Ohio * Upsala College, East Orange, New Jersey (''defunct ...

's student conduct office, but the

Orange County District Attorney Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

declined to file charges against him. The student regent-designate at the time, Alfredo Mireles, was appointed voting student regent after Cheng's resignation. In 2013, the nomination of Sadia Saifuddin, the first

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

student regent, was criticized by pro-Israel and conservative entities, such as

StandWithUs StandWithUs (SWU) (also known as Israel Emergency Alliance) is a nonprofit right-wing pro-Israel advocacy organization founded in Los Angeles in 2001 by Roz Rothstein, Jerry Rothstein, and Esther Renzer. StandWithUs has gained prominence as ...

and

David Horowitz David Joel Horowitz (January 10, 1939 – April 29, 2025) was an American conservative writer and activist. He was a founder and president of the David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC); editor of the Center's website '' FrontPage Magazine''; and ...

, due to Saifuddin's past support for

disinvestment from Israel Disinvestment from Israel is a campaign that aims to use disinvestment to pressure the government of Israel to put "an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories captured during the 1967 military campaign." The disinvestment camp ...

. In the final vote to appoint Saifuddin, only Regent

Richard C. Blum Richard Charles Blum (July 31, 1935 – February 27, 2022) was an American investor and the husband of United States Senator Dianne Feinstein. He was the chairman and president of Blum Capital, an equity investment management firm. Blum wa ...

abstained from voting in favor. Regent

Norman Pattiz Norman Joel Pattiz (January 18, 1943 – December 4, 2022) was an American broadcasting entrepreneur who founded radio network Westwood One. Pattiz was a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame. Career Pattiz worked in the sales dept at KCOP ...

was not present at the time of the vote. During June 2013, student regent Jonathan Stein was a member of the Regents committee that selected Janet Napolitano to be nominated and presented to the full Board of Regents for a confirmation vote. In 2014, the appointment of Saifuddin's successor, Avi Oved, was opposed by students and student groups, including

Students for Justice in Palestine Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP; ) is a pro-Palestinian college student activism organization in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. Founded at the University of California, Berkeley in 1993, it has campaigned for the Boycott, Div ...

, due to

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

and transparency concerns. ''

The Daily Californian ''The Daily Californian'' (''Daily Cal'') is an independent, student-run newspaper that serves the University of California, Berkeley, campus and its surrounding community. History 20th century ''The Daily Californian'' became independent fro ...

'' reported that when running for an elected

student government A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizatio ...

position at

, Oved received campaign donations from Israeli-American businessman

Adam Milstein Adam Milstein (; born 1952) is an Israeli American investor and philanthropist. He is a managing partner at Hager Pacific Properties. Milstein has founded and funded organisations supporting Jewish causes, and has also founded and served as a bo ...

that were secretly routed through Hillel's UCLA chapter. Oved and his supporters responded that UCLA's student government election regulations did not require disclosure of donors, and that the opposition was motivated by

anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. The UC Student Association nominating committee voted to delay its nomination of Oved in order to fully investigate, but the Board of Regents rejected the delay and voted to appoint Oved, with only Saifuddin voting in opposition. In January 2016, Oved and his successor, Marcela Ramirez, attended costly Regents' dinners paid for by university funds. The dinners were criticized by state legislative leaders, government watchdog groups, student government leaders, and students at large. The dinners appeared to violate university policy, and after ''

The San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'' publicly reported the dinners' existence and funding, university leaders said they would no longer pay for the dinners. In May 2016, UC Berkeley Law student Paul Monge Rodriguez was nominated to be student regent for the 2017-2018 academic year. Monge previously criticized Berkeley's discipline of then-law dean

Sujit Choudhry Sujit Choudhry is a lawyer, legal scholar, and expert in comparative constitutional law. Choudhry was on the faculty at the University of Toronto and New York University School of Law before being named dean University of California, Berkeley ...

for

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...

, calling it a "slap on the wrist".

Representation of the student regent

Student regents are typically found to be highly representative of the student population ethnically, but are disproportionate in campus diversity. Regent Zaragoza was also the second ever Native American to have served on the board, second to Jacquelyn Ross (1987-88). Regent Blas-Pedral worked and went to school at three separate UCs. Regent Tesfai was the first student parent to have served as a student regent.

List of student regents

References

External links

* at the

Board of Regents In the United States, a board often governs institutions of higher education, including private universities, state universities, and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual co ...

website
University of California Regents Policy 1202: Policy on Appointment of Student Regent

"Representative or Trustee? The Complex History of the UC Student Regent"
at ''

'' {{University of California * University of California Political history of California Politics of California