This post was updated May 17 at 4:03 a.m.
SAN FRANCISCO — The governing board of the University of California met for the third day of its May meeting at UC San Francisco on Thursday. The Board of Regents voted to raise nonresident student tuition and discussed a potential partnership between UC San Francisco and a Catholic hospital system.
Board of Regents
- The board voted to increase nonresident student tuition by $762 per year, raising tuition for out-of-state and international students from $28,992 to $29,754 per year.
- Caroline Siegel-Singh, the vice president of external affairs of Associated Students at UC San Diego and president of UC Students Association, said students from certain UC campuses and racial backgrounds take on more debt than others. Siegel-Singh said low- and middle-income students are facing increasingly high tuition costs. She urged the board to consider the effects of raising nonresident tuition, adding she thinks the UC should not rely on the revenue generated from nonresident tuition for funding.
- Sarah Abdeshahian, a UC Berkeley student and vice chair of the Fund the UC campaign, said she opposed the tuition increase for nonresident students. She said she thinks students from all backgrounds should be able to afford a UC education.
- American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, the UC’s largest employee union, protested the outsourcing of UC worker’s jobs. A few AFSCME members were arrested for illegal assembly, said Eric Partika, captain of the UC San Francisco Police Department.
- Sahiba Kaur, a senator in Associated Students of UC Davis, said pesticides used on UC grounds are harmful to groundskeepers and community members. Kaur said the UC continues to use chemicals and pesticides prohibited by the state of California and added she thinks the UC should let groundskeeping workers, scientists, experts and student government representatives sit on the committee overseeing the issue.
- Patricia Robertson, a perinatologist at UCSF, said she thinks UCSF should not partner with Dignity Health, a Catholic hospital system because she thinks hospital operations and services such as abortion would be restricted by local bishops. Robertson said there are other ways to add beds without having to affiliate with a Catholic institution.
- Kathleen Jordan, the chief medical officer at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, said many allegations against Dignity Health, such as the claims the hospitals will limit access to care for LBGTQ individuals, are not true. Jordan said the hospital discusses all treatment options with patients and does not discriminate against any patients. She also said bishops are not involved in the decision-making process of the health care system.
- Dana Gossett, an obstetrics, gynecology and gynecologic professor at UCSF, said she supports the partnership with Dignity Health. Gosi said Dignity Health has a gender-affirming program for its transgender patients and no care would be taken away from patients.