Q&A with the Daily Bruin

  Daily Bruin File Photo 2001-02 Student Regent
Tracy Davis. Tracy Davis is the 2001-02 Student
Regent. As a voting member of the Board of Regents, Davis plays a
direct role in affecting UC policy.

These days the stakes are high for the University of California
as demands for change in the admissions process bellow from the
halls of its nine campuses, almost 60,000 students await admission
to a UC within the next 10 years, and previously promised funds are
disappearing as a result of the state’s economic downturn.
Where many people would fold under these circumstances, Tracy
Davis, a doctoral student in UCLA’s School of Education and
the 2001-02 Student Regent, has managed to rise to the occasion.
When she’s not busy reading applications with the UCLA
admissions office or writing her dissertation, Davis is driving all
over California to meet with students, faculty and staff to hear
their concerns and address their needs. What strikes me as
compelling about Tracy is that whenever I ask her a question,
instead of telling me about herself or her own opinions, she tells
me about the importance of listening. She does it all day, every
day. And it seems that in the year and a half she’s spent
working with the powers-that-be-in-the-UC, she’s learned the
value of this simple, yet imperative task. So for a rare moment,
she will do the talking (and we will do the listening) about next
year’s budget, victories in student access, coalition
building and the future of the UC.

***

If you could tell students one thing about the Regents, what
would it be? The Regents serve as a board of trustees for our
university, and they are attempting to set a vision for the future.
As people, they don’t agree on everything all the time. In
fact, a lot of it is about disagreement in a collegial environment.
But each person attempts to do what they believe is best for the
university. These beliefs may sometimes go against what students,
faculty, staff or whoever else want ““ but I think they truly
believe they are ensuring the future of the university. And
that’s not such an easy thing to do. In terms of
“ensuring the future,” there are a lot of delicate
decisions to be made now, especially regarding finances. How has
the UC fared in light of the state’s budget changes during
the economic downturn? Although there have been cuts in areas
that will be felt more acutely than others ““ specifically
salaries and the outreach budget ““ the UC fared better than a
lot of other state institutions in terms of percentage cuts. Gov.
Gray Davis, in the budget that was just presented to us, really
tried to maintain components of the Partnership (between the state
and UC). Sometimes the budget is more political than monetary, but
in light of these things, the UC is in relatively good shape. We
are, however, in a precarious situation in light of Tidal Wave II.
This is supposed to be the first year of the influx, and funds we
were counting on during the rosier years of the budget are not
necessarily going to be there. So, it’s more than what this
budget means for this year. It’s what this budget and
economic downturn say for the next five years and how we will come
out of it. There has been some concern that in coordination
with budget cuts the Regents will raise student fees. What is all
this about? Nothing has been officially done yet. We’re
only in conversation phases. But there are always discussions about
raising fees. Remember, it’s more than just undergraduate
fees we’re talking about. It’s out-of-state fees,
graduate fees, professional fees. We have to attract international
students. A lot of things go into fees, not just undergraduate
concerns. When I was at UCLA as an undergraduate in the early
1990s, student fees almost doubled. Some regents will always feel
student fees are a good place to turn during a budget crisis. But I
have to admit, I come from a different perspective. The argument I
brought up at the regent’s meeting was that although fees
have stayed constant (over the past eight years), housing fees and
cost-of-living fees have gone up consistently. Students are
actually paying more for their education if you look at the whole
picture, considering non-tuition costs. Tuition is only a small
piece of the total cost of attending a university. In the UC
system, it costs more to go to college than it does to pay the
tuition. How do you feel your point was received?
Initially they argued that increasing fees would also increase
financial aid, protecting poor students. But what often gets left
out are the middle-class students who don’t necessarily
qualify for aid but are more strapped than other students. For
that, they had little comment. Specifically at UCLA, how can we
handle these mid-year budget cuts? What programs do you think we
should cut from? I can’t say anything should be specifically
cut. We still have to have some conversations. You get yourself
into trouble when you don’t get multiple perspectives when
making decisions. If you are not specifically responsible for a
program or project, it may be more difficult to understand the
ramifications of cutting from certain areas and not others. So I do
not personally define myself in terms of making those decisions. We
have people and organizations who can speak better for themselves.
I can take a position, but I think part of being a Regent is
listening to the concerns of different groups and trying to make
decisions based not on what I think I should tell people to do, but
what I think will be best overall. When we talk about
“ensuring our future,” some other topics in recent
headlines come to mind: AB 540 and comprehensive review. What do
you think of these policies and what will they do for students of
the university? AB 540 is a positive step that is in alignment with
RE-28 (the resolution that repealed SP-1 and SP-2, the policies
that banned affirmative action in admissions and hiring in the UC).
It’s a gesture of goodwill. I am hoping that students who
previously were not able to apply to the UC, though were part of
the eligibility pool and were undocumented, will now think about
the UC when they are applying to college. I believe the spirit of
AB 540 is one of inclusion. I voted for it. As for comprehensive
review, I am looking forward to seeing what the results will be
from this year’s applications. I’m hoping people can
support the system while it goes through its years of
implementation. As with any newly implemented process, I
don’t know if we can take its first results as the exact way
things are going to be for the future. We need to give it some time
to see how it works itself out. The UC released its application
data last week and the rate of increase in minority applicants
didn’t appear to increase. What does this indicate? Well
the problem isn’t really in the applicant pool. It’s in
the yield ““ the admits and the people who choose to come
here. We found that we were accepting large numbers of
underrepresented students, but when they received their admission
letters they didn’t accept in the numbers we were hoping for.
So part of the spirit of things like RE-28, AB 540 and
comprehensive review is that we do welcome underrepresented
students. What is your relationship with the various student
governments and what input do you look for from them? I talk
frequently with UCSA, predominantly because I represent the entire
campus system. But I do meet with smaller groups ““ like last
week I met with UCLA’s environmental coalition to discuss
divestment in Burma. I mainly meet with them just for discussion.
We need to discuss different issues and find out what’s
really important to the students so that I know what issues people
want me to spend my time on. This year, and always, the main issues
deal with access and equity. They deal with investment in the
future. Other things like affordable housing come up as well.
I’ve also heard about outreach efforts. Although I’d
say access to the university is probably the most crucial request,
as was obviously demonstrated by the role of students in last
year’s repeal of SP-1 and SP-2. Things also vary by graduate
and undergraduate needs, and by campus. I also talk to faculty and
staff groups as well, but I always remember that I am a student.
I’m trying to come to come to a big picture of all these
things. So what’s the big picture? I think the big
picture is … I would encourage people to do more listening. We
need more discussion. We need to try to find ways to collaborate on
issues. Even student groups. It always amazes me when I meet with a
number of student groups in one week, and they’ll all have
the same issue but they haven’t pooled their resources.
Collectively, we are stronger than we are as individuals. But
because people have different agendas or different missions or they
officially define themselves as different from other groups we miss
out on a lot of positive collaborations that would not only benefit
students, but also the outcomes we’re all trying to get at.
Where do you see the university in 10 years? We are going
to do amazing things by adding UC Merced. Access will open up for
the residents of the Central Valley and the businesses and
economies there. The UC will continue to have a major impact in
setting the future for not just the university, but the state of
California. I hope we always remember that our official mission is
research, service and teaching, and that we dedicate our efforts on
all three with the same passion ““ and do them equally well.
How do you do this job and still have your life? You have
to really love what you do. And that means you have to realize that
you’ll make sacrifices. Whether that means lack of sleep, or
you don’t see friends and family as much, so be it. My time
is university time.