UC Student Association organizers will hold a teleconference Thursday afternoon after the UC Board of Regents’ meeting to voice their concerns about student fees, after cancelling a previously scheduled rally at UC San Diego.
The decision came as a result of the Regents’ announcement on Friday that they would not hold their regularly scheduled meeting at UC San Diego because they do not want to divert the university’s resources from combating swine flu. Instead, the board will be holding a teleconference for four hours on Thursday.
Student organizers expressed their disappointment Monday after the board’s announcement.
They said the decision would deny students the opportunity to properly voice their concerns over the increase of 9.3 percent in student fees that the board is scheduled to vote on this Thursday.
Lisa Chen, the external vice president of UC San Diego’s undergraduate student government said she was disappointed at the UC Regent’s decision because UCSA had been planning a rally for Wednesday, the day before the board’s vote on whether to raise student fees for the coming year. Chen said organizers had been working for two months prior to the meeting and were expecting about 100 to 150 students and UC workers to attend the rally.
She added that while she understood the concern over swine flu, when she originally found out about the decision to hold the meeting via teleconference, she thought it was a “a joke,” and a “cop-out.”
“It was a huge blow to our planning. We haven’t had the regents (come) to San Diego since 2006,” she said.
The decision to conduct the meeting by telephone, which was announced Friday, was made by Regents’ Chairman Richard C. Blum and UC President Mark G. Yudof according to a press release. The release also stated that the board did not wish to divert university resources from any community or health issues related to swine flu.
“We thought it best to meet our legal and operational obligations and conduct the meeting by phone, without asking the campus to stretch resources better applied elsewhere during this challenging time,” Blum said in the same statement.
Chen said the board’s decision not to hold the meeting in person prevents students from expressing their point of view to the Board of Regents about how a fee increase would affect students.
“Regardless of swine flu, they should be hearing us. They should hear us in person before they decide on a fee increase. Being on the phone simply isn’t enough,” she said.
The board also announced Friday that the regularly scheduled three-day meeting would be condensed to a single teleconference, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday.
“You really cannot conduct three days of meeting by phone,” said Paul Schwartz, a spokesman for the UC Office of the President.
Schwartz added that the meeting will still include a public comment period in which students can speak to the Board Regents by attending different locations set up at various UC campuses.
Lucero Chavez, president of UC Student Association, said the board’s regular meeting allows students a rare opportunity to voice their concerns.
“For that space to be cut out, especially with this fee vote, is really unfortunate,” she said. “(It is) one of the most important meetings, when they’re deciding the future of student fees not only for current students but also for incoming students.”
The UC Regents announced last week that they would consider the 9.3 percent increase in student fees, which would be about $662.
The announcement came at a meeting this week, after the board had previously submitted a budget to the state legislature without a fee increase, according to a press statement. The revised budget by the state assumed a 9.3 percent increase in fees, Yudof said in the same statement.
Students can listen to a live broadcast of the UC Board of Regents’ meeting Thursday by visiting the board’s Web site or a designated location at Tom Bradley Hall.