Regents debate importance of student voice

Regents debate importance of student voice

Regent Ward Campbell claims representation on board is
unnecessary

By Michael Howerton

Daily Bruin Staff

With the Board of Regents meeting two days away, battle lines
are being drawn.

Since Regent Glenn Campbell announced last week that he was
seeking to eliminate the student representative on the board,
student advocates, including many regents, have reaffirmed the
importance of student input in the university.

After learning of the proposal to eliminate the position for
which he has been nominated, UC Berkeley student Jess Bravin sent a
letter to Campbell urging him to recall his proposal.

"News of this motion has spread across UC’s nine campuses and
outraged students who view it as an insult to their capabilities
and concerns," Bravin wrote to Campbell. "The damage is real and
deeply felt."

Bravin was chosen as the nominee for next year’s student regent
by the selection committee at last month’s meeting. A vote to
ratify Bravin’s nomination is scheduled for this week’s meeting
alongside Campbell’s proposal to terminate the position.

Campbell said that he told Bravin he would consider recalling
the motion, but as of yet, has not decided.

Chairman Clair Burgener said that he would be surprised if
Campbell’s proposal had any real support on the board and expects
it to be defeated, accompanied by unanimous approval of Bravin for
the next student regent. Or nearly unanimous, depending on how
Campbell votes.

"Campbell is by himself on this," John Du, Undergraduate
Students Association Council external vice-president, said. Support
on the board for Campbell’s proposal is so minimal that University
of California Student Association (UCSA) does not plan to send a
student protest contingent to San Francisco for the meeting, he
said.

But while a organized protest isn’t being prepared, a petition
opposed to the attack on student representation will be presented
to the regents during the meeting by UCSA.

"The petition was begun to mobilize student support and educate
students about the Board of Regents and the general trend of attack
to student input," Sabrina Smith, UCSA field organizer, said.

At the prospect of student opposition to his proposal, Campbell
was undaunted.

"I have seen so many protests in my 28 years (on the board)," he
said, "I’m hardened; they don’t work on me."

Other regents affirmed their support for the student regent
position.

"I’ve always found the student regent to be a help," Burgener
said, distancing himself from Campbell’s position. "They provide a
view that we don’t see everyday. (Campbell’s proposal) is an
affront to the student body."

In contrast, Campbell said he couldn’t think of any positive
contributions the student regent adds to the meetings.

"Most of the effects are negative. They talk too much and it
gets tiresome," he said.

"I’ve always been against a student regent on the board,"
Campbell continued. "The university got along for 100 years without
a student regent."

The value of the student regent has been espoused by student
advocates ever since they have been presented with the prospect of
its elimination.

The student regent, Bravin said, gives the students, who
traditionally have the least influence in the university, the
opportunity to have a voice at the highest council of the
institution.

"The student regent has the potential to create dialogue and
build bridges," said York Chang, UCLA undergraduate president. Not
only do they represent the student body’s interests to the board,
he added, but are also able to provide a perspective on the
activities of the board to the students.

The student regent position was created in 1975, after a
contentious debate, giving a student representative a vote in the
decisions of the highest policy making body in the university.
Regent Dean Watkins was one of the regents who opposed the position
in 1975 and is the only remaining regent from the reorganization
committee which narrowly approved sending the position before the
full board for approval.

The argument against allowing a student regent to sit on the
board, at the time, was that a student regent would function more
as a special interest representative than a trustee of the
institution.

One of the main problems with the student regent, Campbell said,
quoting Watkin’s dissension in the 1975 vote, is the conflict of
interest in having one of the beneficiaries of the university also
acting as a trustee.

"It’s a confusing of roles," he said.

However, Burgener dismissed the notion that the nature of the
position poses a conflict. "If we had a majority of students of the
board, then it would be a conflict of interest," he said, "but one
just brings a point of view."

All eight student regents that he has sat with on the board have
been a positive contribution to the procedures and have always been
very supportive of the welfare of the students, Burgener said.

If the measure passes Campbell, who is ending his tenure as a
regent at the meeting, said that it would be, "a nice going away
present, but if it doesn’t pass, it won’t bother me."Comments to
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