A University of California regents committee nominated a UC Berkeley law student Wednesday to be the student regent for the 2017-2018 academic year.
The UC Board of Regents will vote on Paul Monge’s nomination at its July board meeting at UC San Francisco.
Forty-nine students applied to the student regent position. The UC Student Association interviewed 10 semifinalists, and the UC regents nominating committee interviewed three finalists.
Monge, if confirmed, will serve as a student regent-designate, which does not have voting power but participates in meetings, for the 2016-2017 academic year.
Monge graduated from UC Santa Barbara with bachelor’s degrees in sociology and global studies. He also earned a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University.
Monge said he hopes to focus on issues of housing affordability, food insecurity and the need to improve handling of allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
Monge added that he will use his background in policy advocacy to prioritize issues affecting students and to ensure student voices are respected and reflected in the UC Board of Regents’ decision making process.
He previously served as the student body president of UC Santa Barbara and as a legislative aide for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
The nominating committee included regents Charlene Zettel, John Pérez, Gareth Elliott, Yolanda Gorman and current student regent Avi Oved, a fifth-year UCLA economics student.
The student regent for the 2016-2017 year will be Marcela Ramirez, a UC Riverside graduate student in higher education administration and policy.