Newly appointed student regent commits to equity for underrepresented students

Newly appointed Student Regent Alexis Zaragoza said she will advocate for equity for underrepresented demographics in the University of California system.

Zaragoza, a rising fifth-year geography student from UC Berkeley, will serve from 2021 to 2022. She is a student regent of indigenous descent and is the first undergraduate transfer student regent.

Zaragoza said she was hesitant to apply for the regent position because of her status as a transfer student, which made her doubt how far she would make it in the selection process.

“As a transfer student, I (feel) like a lot of people don’t want you because they see you as, ‘Oh, you’ve only been here for one year, what do you know?’” Zaragoza said. “We have this stigma around us so I was really nervous to apply.”

However, Jamaal Muwwakkil, the 2020-2021 student regent and a graduate linguistics student at UC Santa Barbara, said Zaragoza’s experience as a transfer student brings an underemphasized perspective to the table. Muwwakkil is a community college transfer himself and holds the identity dearly, he added.

Muwwakkil said he hopes their nontraditional undergraduate routes highlight the diversity of UC’s undergraduates.

“We have lots of different ways of being an undergraduate in the UC…and that’s something to be proud of,” Muwwakkil said. “We do ourselves a disservice when we essentialize the undergraduate experience as an 18 to 22 year old, traditional, out-of-high-school experience.”

Zaragoza said she intends to work to make underrepresented minorities feel welcome on campus and plans to increase faculty and staff diversity.

Zaragoza said she also plans to advocate for the UC to protect its undocumented students – her father is a Mexican immigrant and her family has experienced a few scares regarding citizenship, she added.

“I almost lost (my dad) two years ago to (the United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement),” Zaragoza said, “For me, it is something that is personal … there’s a lot to be done nationally, but at the very least (undocumented students) need to be safe on our campuses.”

Zaragoza previously served on the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, where she said she helped write a bill to reform the Cal Grant by removing qualification age limits for community college students amongst other changes.

After serving two years on the California Community Colleges Board, Zaragoza joined the UC Academic Senate’s Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools where she helped draft new admission guidelines to be used during the COVID-19 pandemic, Zaragoza said.

As a student regent, Zaragoza said her prior experience on both boards will translate to her new role.

Zaragoza said she also intends to bring her perspective as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation to issues between indigenous peoples and the UC, such as the Thirty Meter Telescope. The UC pledged $68 million to fund the TMT project, which would build a large telescope atop of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea mountain – a sacred place for native Hawaiians.

[Related: UCLA’s involvement in Thirty Meter Telescope prompts protest from student groups]

“I can’t expect anybody else to know about the different practices we use, the ceremonies we have and how important the place on the earth is (to us),” Zaragoza said. “But I can help to explain that to (the regents) and I can help convey that voice.”

Aidan Arasasingham, the Undergraduate Student Association Council external vice president and a rising fourth-year global studies student, said he intends to collaborate with Zaragoza on system-wide issues like policing on campus and indigenous issues like the TMT initiative.

Zaragoza will bring helpful insight to current conversations of indigenous issues that are occurring on the UCLA campus, he added.

USAC unanimously passed a resolution July 28 to rename Janss Steps as Tongva Steps, to honor the Gabrielino-Tongva people who lived on the land originally.

Though the activism for the cause has largely been at the campus level, Arasasingham said Zaragoza’s perspective as an indigenous student will be beneficial if the resolution needs greater support from the UC system.

“It’s important to recognize that these historic firsts really do push the university in a better direction,” Arasasingham said. “They’re not just purely symbolic.”

Bria Puanani Tennyson, a UC Berkeley alumna who founded the school’s Mauna Kea Protectors campaign and is Kanaka Maoli, said Zaragoza’s appointment also brings visibility to the indigenous community, which makes up less than 1% of the UC student population.

A common misconception surrounding the indigenous community is the idea that native people no longer exist, or only exist on reservations, Tennyson said. While indigenous student organizations provide a way to debunk this fallacy, Zaragoza’s appointment spotlights the native community in an unprecedented way, she added.

“(Zaragoza’s appointment is) such a monumental accomplishment for the native community (and) has just brought so much pride for us,” Tennyson said. “It’s like a dream come true – it’s like visibility to the max.”

Pavin Johnson, a rising fourth-year political science student at UC Berkeley, the co-executive director of the school’s Indigenous and Native Coalition and member of the Quapaw tribe, said he hopes Zaragoza can convey indigenous values and beliefs to the Board of Regents.

“There’s (many things) that mean a lot to native people that’s just not heard, or not seen or not explained,” Johnson said. “I’m glad that we now have somebody who is native, who is in a position to do that explaining and bring that attention to these issues that mean the world to us.”

During her tenure, Zaragoza said she hopes to continue fighting for equity in the UC system and spotlighting the communities she belongs to – undergraduate, transfer and indigenous.

“I’m really glad I pushed back against my own self-doubt,” Zaragoza said. “Now I’m really happy to give (my) voice to the board.”