UC Board of Regents creates position of student advisor to the student regent

Every year, the University of California (UC) appoints a new student regent, a member of one of the nine UC campuses, who becomes a voting member within the Board of Regents. The student regent serves one year as a student regent designate, where they become a non-voting member on the board until their term commences on July 1. They attend all six meetings throughout the year to represent UC students and their best interests.

Any UC student in good academic standing may apply to be the student regent. The southern and northern regional UC student nominating commissions each select five semifinalists, a total of 10, from those who apply. These semifinalists are then interviewed by the UC 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 committee then recommends a nominee to the full board of UC Regents, which votes on the nominee.

According to Claire Doan, media specialist for the UC, the student regent adds a student perspective to the board.

“The goal is to give the Board of Regents a more comprehensive student perspective on university issues, so that student concerns and priorities are reflected in Regents’ decision-making,” Doan said.

Duties of the student regent include contributing to policy establishment in areas such as long-range planning, student fees, admissions and compensation. The student regent helps oversee the financial management of the University and also helps to appoint the president of the University, the 10 campus chancellors and the officers of the regents.

The current student regent for the 2016-2017 academic school year is Marcela Ramirez, a Ph.D. graduate student in higher education administration and policy at UC Riverside. Ramirez is currently serving as the graduate student representative on the UC Office of the President LGBT Advisory Committee and was previously a member of the Undocumented Student Task Force at UC Riverside. She also served as the founding director of the Middle Eastern Student Center and as the diversity initiatives coordinator in the Dean of Students Office at UC Riverside.

Ramirez has accomplished many things so far as student regent, including being a part of the UC Davis chancellor search committee.

“I have served on several committees including the sexual assault and sexual violence task force, the UC Davis Chancellor’s search committee, as well as the search committee for the UCOP Vice President of Student Affairs,” Ramirez said. “I am currently on the academic affairs and student affairs committee, as well as the public engagement committee. The largest responsibility is making sure that student perspectives and interests are represented on all these fronts.”

The current UC regent designate is UC Berkeley law student Paul Monge. He is a non-voting regent-designate until his student regent term begins on July 1. He will be the 43rd student regent since the position was established in 1975.

Monge has previously held various leadership positions. He served as student body president for UC Santa Barbara, was a budget analyst for the San Francisco Unified School District, a legislative aide for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, a health and human services policy analyst for Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and a commissioner on the San Francisco Youth Commission.

Monge is currently the system wide graduate student representative on the University Committee on Planning and Budget, advising the UC on policies regarding capital planning, budget development and resource allocation. He is also a community advisory committee member for the San Francisco Public Education Enrichment Fund.

Monge plans to focus on issues of housing affordability and food insecurity, the need for proper handling of allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault on campuses and expanded access to culturally comprehensive mental health services.

“As student regent I will work to ensure that the voices of students are both respected and reflected in the decision-making processes of the Board of Regents,” Monge said. “I plan to leverage my background in policy advocacy and community organizing to help prioritize some of the most pressing issues affecting students today.”

In January 2016, the Board of Regents approved a two-year pilot program creating a non-voting position titled Student Advisor, who is appointed for a term of one year and is selected from the student population not represented by the Student Regent during the same term of service. A candidate for Student Advisor must be an undergraduate, graduate or professional student in good standing at one of the UC’s 10 campuses.

The position will begin in July 2017. Applications for undergraduate student advisor and the 2018-2019 student regent are now available online.

Written by: Demi Caceres — campus@theaggie.org

LRDP update preserves Russell Boulevard fields for athletics

UC Davis has confirmed that it no longer plans to construct student housing on the Russell Boulevard intramural fields (IM). At a public city council meeting held on  Dec. 6 to focus on the Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), Bob Seger, the assistant vice chancellor who is head of Campus Planning and Environmental Stewardship, said that Toomey, Howard and Russell Fields will all be maintained as athletic fields.

After Seger announced the Russell Boulevard withdrawal at the town hall meeting, he explained the alternative plan: demolishing existing inefficient, low-density housing and building tall high-density housing to utilize acreage and ease Davis’ low vacancy rate. Construction will occur at empty West Village fields and on campus at Tercero, Orchard Park, Segundo, Solano Field and Cuarto. The map can be seen on the Campus Neighborhoods section of the LRDP draft, in which Russell Field is no longer designated for housing.

The Notice of Preparation Environmental Impact (NOP) report issued on Jan. 4 also confirmed the preservation of Russell Fields.

Davis Mayor Robb Davis and the City Council of Davis signed a resolution on Dec. 20 agreed upon by Davis community members to adjust the 2017-2027 LRDP. The resolution commits Ralph Hexter, UC Davis interim chancellor, to “remov[ing] all construction from Russell, Howard and Toomey Fields and retain[ing] those fields for community and athlete use.”

This 2017-2027 LRDP seeks to “accommodate 90 percent of enrollment growth in campus housing and 40 percent of the Davis-based students in campus housing by 2027-28.” The LRDP predicts 39,000 students will be enrolled by 2027, compared to the 32,663 students from 2015-2016.

The decision to no longer create housing on these fields comes after public backlash from students, athletes and members of the Facebook group Friends of Russell Blvd. Fields, all of whom resisted the development plan to take away the fields. They protested and advocated for athletic and community use of the fields through a petition, sending comments via e-mail to the LRDP planners and calling for town hall meetings.

Advocates for both saving Russell Fields and increasing student housing encouraged the LRDP planners to consider the the Nishi Gateway as an alternate housing proposal. This proposed 45-acre mixed-use Davis district could increase student housing and provide commercial connectivity and walkability near the university, similar to the housing at West Village. The prospective development is nestled in the open space between Old Davis Road and Highway 80.

After UC Davis withdrew its plan to build on Toomey, Howard and Russell Fields, the Friends of Russell Fields Facebook page posted a message of appreciation.

“UC Davis has come to understand that the IM fields on Russell Blvd. are greatly valued by the broad community,” the post read.

Student-athletes who play on Russell Boulevard Fields are proud that they were able to help preserve the fields.

“We are very excited that the University is preserving Russell Field,” said Harrison Morrow, a third-year wildlife, fish and conservation biology major and UC Davis’ rugby team captain. “Not only is it important to various sport clubs at UC Davis, [but] Russell Field [also] serves as a recreation area for the entire student body.”

However, a large concern for students, the community and the university remains — a growing, low-vacancy Davis still needs more student housing. Friends of Russell Blvd. Fields have proposed a 100 percent student enrollment growth and a 50 percent in on campus housing, higher than UC Davis’ 90/40 plan 2017-2027 plan.

“We are, however, disappointed to learn [that] UC Davis continues to resist building student housing on par with most other UC campuses,” a Friends of Russell Blvd. Fields Facebook post reads. “The proposed ‘40 percent of the Davis-based students’ to be housed on campus pales in comparison to the 50 percent most other UCs are striving for. There is a backlog of on-campus housing need that has not been provided yet by UCD, significantly impacting the Davis community. Even Interim Chancellor Hexter recently admitted to the UC Regents that UC Davis has ‘completely saturated’ the Davis housing market, leading to extremely low vacancy rates. Davis is the largest UC at 5,300 acres and unquestionably has room for both the Russell Blvd. fields and more student housing.”

Colin Walsh, a former UC Davis athlete who graduated in 1996, is an advocate for preserving the fields. He described how the Davis community collaborated with the city council and mayor to save the fields.

“The city council last month passed a resolution and sent a letter to the university calling for the university to build more student housing,” Walsh said. “As the campus is getting so much larger, students are still living so far away. Compared to when I was a student, there are so many students coming from far parts of Davis or Woodland.”

Despite the need for increased student housing, Walsh hopes that the fields can continue to be preserved.

“[I have] lived in Davis off and on my whole life,” Walsh said. ‘My father was a rugby coach in Davis in the late 60’s, and I was a student playing on the field too. At every step of the way we simultaneously advocated for saving the fields, and building more student housing. UC Davis is the largest university, but provides less student housing than almost any other UC.”
Written by: Aaron Liss — campus@theaggie.org