University of California students may have more influence on the Board of Regents if a proposal to add another student position passes at the board’s January meeting.
The student adviser to the regents would serve as an advisory member on three Board of Regents committees, prioritizing committees on which the student regent or student regent-designate do not serve, said student regent Avi Oved.
Oved said the proposed adviser would be able to request documents and provide a complementary perspective, but will not have voting powers. The California State constitution would have to be amended to extend voting privileges to the adviser, Oved added.
The Committee on Governance will first consider the proposal, which was drafted by Oved. If the committee approves the proposal on Jan. 20, the entire Board of Regents will vote on it the next day.
Student representation on the UC Board of Regents currently includes a student regent, who is a voting member of the board, three non-voting student observers for different regents’ committees and several non-voting student advocates and committee representatives.
Oved said the student adviser will be a graduate student when the student regent is an undergraduate student, and vice versa, to showcase different viewpoints.
If the position is approved, the project will be launched as a two-year pilot program, Oved said. The search for a new student adviser would begin next academic year, and the first student adviser would come into office in July 2017.
UCLA undergraduate and graduate student governments issued resolutions in October to show their support for the proposal. Both councils said they support the proposal to more thoroughly express different student viewpoints.
The University of California Student Association and the UC Council of Presidents also supported the proposal.
Oved said he has been working on the proposal since his term began in 2014. He added he is trying to obtain letters of support from various vice chancellors across UC campuses and the UC Dean of Students.
The UC Board of Regents will vote on the proposal in its bimonthly meeting scheduled to be held in UC San Francisco on Jan. 20-21.
Compiled by Shreya Maskara, Bruin senior staff.
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