The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information.
Editor’s note: Below is a letter drafted by the University of California Council of Presidents, a body consisting of the presidents of the undergraduate and graduate student governments at the ten UC campuses and UC Hastings, the University’s stand-alone law school. The letter is addressed to incoming UC President Janet Napolitano and signed by the undergraduate chair and graduate chair of the Council of Presidents. Below their signatures is a list of presidents who serve on the council.
Dear President Napolitano,
As the elected undergraduate and graduate student body Presidents of the University of California, we collectively represent those whom you have decided to serve in your acceptance of your new position as President of the UC system – the more than 200,000 people who will shape the future of this great state. Just as the future of California will undoubtedly depend on these individuals, we will depend on your good stewardship of the institution that will ultimately grant them many of the tools they will need to succeed in tomorrow’s America. When you accepted this job, you committed not just to effectively running a large organization, but you also committed to serving the students to the best of your ability.
It is well known that students have a special place in the University of California – we are not merely clients of a degree-granting institution. Here at the UC, students have an equal stake in the institution and participate in the shared governance of many aspects of our University. The preeminent position of student government in the UC system has allowed students to directly act on the needs of the student body and has in turn allowed the UC to be more responsive to student needs than at other institutions. Students continue to push the UC to improve its accessibility and affordability.
In your commitment to students, we ask that your efforts to meet real students not be perfunctory – we ask for real, substantive collaboration. UC student government associations are some of the most active, autonomous, and sophisticated in the nation. As students, we directly experience issues that impact our campuses, and were elected to share these messages with you. It is imperative that we be given the opportunity to do so early and often. No one is more invested in our future than we are, and we see your commitment to students as reflected in the degree to which we have access – access we will use to share our goals and concerns so that they may be acted upon. We believe that our request for one meeting per quarter is both reasonable and necessary.
You are certainly aware that several concerns about your appointment have been brought to us by a number of our constituencies. As student body presidents, we urge you to work quickly and proactively in concert with the Council of Presidents to address and ameliorate these concerns. Nearly every person in your organization will say that their goal in their career is to serve the students and help shape the future of California. We are those students, and we are ready to advise you. We urge you to listen.
Signed,
The Student Body Presidents’ Council
Justin Chung, Graduate Chair and President of the UC Irvine Associated Graduate Students
Donna-Jo Pepito, Undergraduate Chair and President of the UC Berkeley Associated Students University of California
Members of the University of California Council of Presidents:
John Joanino, President of the UCLA Undergraduate Students Association Council
Nicole Robinson, President of the UCLA Graduate Students Association
Max Gee, President of the UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly
Carly Sandstrom, President of the Associated Students, UC Davis
Juan E. Miranda, Chair of the UC Davis Graduate Student Association
Nicole Hisatomi, President of the Associated Students – UC Irvine
Jaron Brandon, President of the Associated Students of UC Merced
Henry Pai, President of the UC Merced Graduate Student Association
Shil “Sai” Patadia, President of the Associated Students of UC Riverside
Sandeep Dhall, President of the UC Riverside Graduate Student Association
Andy Buselt, President of the Associated Students of UC San Diego
Rahul S. Kapadia, President of the UC San Diego Graduate Student Association
Austin Walker, President of the Associated Students of UC San Francisco
Joseph Foy, President of the UC San Francisco Graduate Students’ Association
Jonathan Abboud, President of the Associated Students of UC Santa Barbara
Gary Haddow, President of the UC Santa Barbara Graduate Students Association
Shaz Umer, Chair of the UC Santa Cruz Student Union Assembly
Cameron Alston, President of the UC Santa Cruz Graduate Student Association
Correction: Sandeep Dhall is the president of the UC Riverside Graduate Student Association.