UC President Janet Napolitano meets with students

This post was updated at 8:50 p.m.

University of California President Janet Napolitano met with student representatives from across the UC system today to discuss issues that impact students on their respective campuses.

The meeting comes on Napolitano’s second day in office, at a time when many students have expressed skepticism regarding Napolitano’s selection as UC President.

Napolitano met with 12 students on Tuesday, including UC student regent Cinthia Flores, student regent-designate Sadia Saifuddin and seven undocumented students, Flores said in an interview.

UC Irvine student Andrea Gordillo, a leader of the UC Multicultural Coalition who was at Tuesday’s meeting said the coalition chose the 10 additional students who met with Napolitano. Three of those students were arrested for protesting Napolitano’s appointment during a UC regents meeting in July,

During the meeting, Flores and Saifuddin brought up to Napolitano the student issues they thought were most pressing, Flores said. They discussed student concerns about transparency in selecting the UC president, campus climate, financial aid for undocumented students and sound campus police practices.

The 10 other students urged Napolitano to publicly support the Trust Act, which would prohibit California law enforcement from detaining individuals for deportation solely based on their undocumented status. Gordillo said Napolitano told them she supported the act, but she did not want to issue a written statement herself about it.

They also said they were concerned about the UC being a sanctuary for undocumented students under Napolitano’s leadership.

Flores said she thought Napolitano was receptive to the students’ ideas and demands. But she added that Napolitano did not confirm whether or not she would champion these issues.

“We … wanted tangible solutions. However, we only received promises to look into the proposals,” Gordillo said.

Both Flores and Gordillo said they would continue to pressure Napolitano to meet student demands. Gordillo said she and her fellow coalition members would still maintain a stance of no confidence in Napolitano, but they did appreciate the chance to express their concerns.

Napolitano plans to meet with more students and other UC community members in the future, according to Tuesday’s press statement.

“(The meeting) was a productive opening discussion in what I hope will be an ongoing dialogue with students,” Napolitano said in the statement.

Compiled by Naheed Rajwani and Kristen Taketa, Bruin senior staff.

Join the Conversation

1 Comment

  1. If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth, right? the Democrats’ great accomplishment is producing the political equivalent of a Rodney King video, clearly demonstrating the lies of the right, the right Hilary Clinton correctly identified as a vast conspiracy. Confirm by examining Central District of California Cases, 01-4340, 03-9097, 08-5515, 10-5193, US Tax Court 12000-07L –though I think you want to view my US Tax Court Appeal to the 9th Circuit for a good account of their day to day assaults, a few month time slice indicative of a decade of assault, and 9th Circuit case 11-56043.

    Typically operating through puppets–including puppets in the judiciary–the right wing has for decades been committing crimes and trying to classify them to cover them up, a move explicitly forbidden by the Code of Federal Regulations. The right has accomplished its political objectives by presenting a fraction of the evidence to judicial officials who, having seen the pattern dozens of times before, could not help but realize that they were being presented with incomplete and inaccurate information. With either the willfully blind approval or the willful ignorance of the judiciary the right has killed & stolen several of my pets and routinely shoot energy weaponry at me and my pets, despite my calls to the police, the FBI, Congress, and despite my petitions in court. There is really only one solution, and that’s to disempower them politically.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *