University of California student regent

Student regent of the University of California
Seal of the University of California
Incumbent Abraham 'Avi' Oved since July 1, 2015
Member of	Regents of the University of California
Nominator	University of California Student Association Board of Directors Regents' Special Committee to Select a Student Regent Student government nominating commissions
Appointer	Regents of the University of California
Term length	One year (Preceded by approx. one-year term as Regent-designate)
Constituting instrument	Constitution of California
Formation	1975
First holder	Carol Mock
Deputy	University of California Student Regent-designate
Salary	Two-year full tuition waiver or scholarship
Website	regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/about/members-and-advisors/student-regent.html

The student regent is a position on the University of California Board of Regents created by a 1974 California ballot proposition to represent University of California (UC) students on the university system's governing board. It is required by the California Constitution. Student regents serve an approximately one-year term as 'student regent-designate', followed by a one-year term as a full voting member of the Regents. The 2015-2016 student regent is Abraham 'Avi' Oved, a UCLA undergraduate student; the student regent-designate is Marcela Ramirez, a UC Riverside graduate student.

Selection process

Virtually any UC student in good academic standing may apply to be student regent. Southern and northern 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, which then votes on the nominee. Once approved, the nominee becomes 'student regent-designate', shadowing the student regent for approximately one academic year 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 that it may be biased towards graduate students as well as students from UCLA and UC Berkeley, traditionally considered the flagship campuses of the UC system.

History

Student regents have been noted for their support of affirmative action and diversity, and opposition of nuclear weapons research and fee increases.

In May 2011, student regent Jesse Cheng resigned after being arrested for allegedly committing sexual battery against a UCLA graduate student. Cheng was found responsible for "unwanted touching" by UC Irvine's student conduct office, but the Orange County District Attorney 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 student regent, was criticized by pro-Israel and conservative entities, such as StandWithUs and David Horowitz, due to Saifuddin's past support for disinvestment from Israel. In the final vote to appoint Saifuddin, only Regent Richard C. Blum abstained from voting in favor. Regent Norman Pattiz 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, due to conflict of interest and transparency concerns. The Daily Californian revealed that when running for a student government position at UCLA, Oved received campaign donations from Israeli-American businessman Adam Milstein 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. The UCSA 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 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 for sexual harassment, calling it a "slap on the wrist".

List of student regents

List of student regents

No.	Student regent	Term as regent	Campus	Student status during term	Major or field of study during term
1	Carol Mock	1975–1976	Santa Barbara	senior	political science
2	Daryn Peeples	1976–1977	Berkeley	senior	English
3	Michael S. Salerno	1977–1978	Davis	graduate	law
4	Renee Turkell	1978–1979	Los Angeles	senior	English
5	Hector C. Lozano	1979–1980	Davis	senior	sociology
6	Leslie K. Lurie	1980–1981	Los Angeles	junior	political science/communications
7	David A. Neuman	1981–1982	Los Angeles	junior	communications studies
8	Linda Rae Sabo	1982–1983	San Diego	senior	philosophy
9	Richard Anderson	1983–1984	Los Angeles	graduate	psychology
10	Fred N. Gaines	1984–1985	Berkeley	graduate	law
11	Janice C. Eberly	1985–1986	Davis	junior	agricultural economics
12	David B. Hoffman	1986–1987	Los Angeles	sophomore	political science
13	Jacquelyn Ross	1987–1988	Davis	senior	applied behavioral science
14	Deborah Thorpe	1988–1989	Davis	junior	chemistry
15	Guillermo Rodriguez	1989–1990	Berkeley	junior	sociology/communications
16	Jenny Doh	1990–1991	Irvine	senior	political science
17	Diana Darnell	1991–1992	San Francisco	graduate	anatomy
18	Alex Wong	1992–1993	Berkeley	graduate	law
19	Darby Morrisroe	1993–1994	Davis	senior	political science
20	Terrence Wooten	1994–1995	Riverside	senior	biology
21	Edward Gomez	1995–1996	Riverside	graduate	history
22	Jess Bravin	1996–1997	Berkeley	graduate	law
23	Kathryn McClymond	1997–1998	Santa Barbara	graduate	religious studies
24	Max R. Espinoza	1998–1999	Los Angeles	senior	political science/Chicano studies
25	Michelle K. Pannor	1999–2000	Berkeley	senior	conservation resources
26	Justin W. Fong	2000–2001	Los Angeles	graduate	public policy
27	Tracy M. Davis	2001–2002	Los Angeles	graduate	higher education and organizational change
28	Dexter Ligot-Gordon	2002–2003	Berkeley	graduate
29	Matthew Murray	2003–2004	Berkeley	junior	architecture
30	Jodi Anderson	2004–2005	Los Angeles	graduate	higher education
31	Adam Rosenthal	2005–2006	Davis	graduate	law
32	María Ledesma	2006–2007	Los Angeles	graduate	higher education
33	Benjamin Allen	2007–2008	Berkeley	graduate	law
34	D’Artagnan Scorza	2008–2009	Los Angeles	graduate	education studies
35	Jesse Bernal	2009–2010	Santa Barbara	graduate	education studies
36	Jesse Cheng	2010–2011 May (resigned)	Irvine	undergraduate
37	Alfredo Mireles Jr.	2011 May – 2012	San Francisco	graduate
38	Jonathan Stein	2012–2013	Berkeley	graduate	master's/law
39	Cinthia Flores	2013–2014	Irvine	graduate	law
40	Sadia Saifuddin	2014–2015	Berkeley	undergraduate
41	Abraham "Avi" Oved (current)	2015–2016	Los Angeles	undergraduate	economics
42	Marcela Ramirez (designate)	2016-2017	Riverside	graduate	higher education administration and policy

External links

• The Student Regent and Student Regent-designate at the Board of Regents website