The UC Board of Regents Special Committee on Athletics discussed athletic programs and student athlete experiences across the UC during a meeting Tuesday.

The board held its bimonthly meeting from Tuesday to Thursday at UC San Francisco. The committee considered strategies for increasing revenue and improving the experiences of student athletes at its final meeting.

The charter establishing the committee is set to expire May 18, though the committee’s chair, Regent Jose Hernandez, said the group’s mission will continue via the board’s Athletic Working Group.

The first segment of the meeting contained broad overviews of athletic programs at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz, where athletes compete at the NCAA Division I and Division III levels, respectively.

Both UCLA and UCSC, despite their difference in division, are experiencing significant budget deficits in their athletic departments. UCLA’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is approximately $50 million in deficit, and UCSC is $2 million.

Chancellor Julio Frenk said during the meeting that there has been an unprecedented amount of change in intercollegiate athletics in recent years, particularly through UCLA’s move to the Big Ten conference.

“This transformation raises fundamental issues regarding equity, financial sustainability and truly the very nature of the amateur character of intercollegiate athletics and the very nature of the student experience for our athletes,” Frenk said at the meeting.

UCLA joined the Big Ten in August 2024, a move Frenk said was made to stabilize the university’s athletic program and ensure long-term success in the wake of the department’s deficits, since more revenue is generally generated from Big Ten schools.

With these changes, UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond said UCLA Athletics has seen ample success.

“We have had an unbelievable year this year,” he said. “We’ve won six Big Ten regular season championships, most in the Big Ten. We’ve had a number of our coaches win Coach of the Year.”

Sonya Brooks, the UC student regent-designate and a UCLA doctoral student in education, noted the immense success of UCLA women’s basketball – and said the team should be recognized by the Regents.

Frenk said UCLA will require investment to fund preparations for hosting the Olympic Village. Agostini added that they receive less revenue than most schools due to the fact that ASUCLA owns most licensing rights for their athletes, and Hernandez said he believed the university’s $50 million budget deficit was not sustainable long-term.

Agostini added that despite financial struggles, UCLA hopes to continue supporting the athletic program.

“It won’t be easy, and given the volatility of the space, we’re hoping to stay abreast in an environment that changes almost monthly,” he said.

Leadership from UCSC then introduced its athletic program and said it is working towards a cut in expenditures.

UCSC funds more than half of its athletic revenue with student fees that were established in a 2016 referendum – which made it so that students would be charged $30 per quarter to support operations and maintenance of Student Life Facilities.

UCSC Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Lori Kletzer said the cost structure for the referendum did not take into account the geographic isolation of the West Coast, nor did it have an adjustment mechanism for inflation.

The department plans on increasing revenue through celebration of its athletic program and investment in the student-athlete experience, said Chris Spells, UCSC’s Director of Athletics and Recreation.

Hernandez asked if both UCLA and UCSC could combat the deficit through travel reduction.

The second part of the meeting highlighted the first-hand experiences of UC student athletes.

Tyler Jones, a basketball player at UC Riverside, said he was grateful for the support of the athletic staff at UCR. Similarly, UCR softball pitcher Maddie Heinlin, said she felt inspired by the athletics department.

“Even though these past four years have not been perfect – and my teammates and I had to navigate many shortcomings – I have learned a lot from the athletics department,” she added. “Seeing how they fight for us to have everything we deserve every single day is very inspiring.”

After several testimonials, regent-designate Ann Wang asked student athletes how they could best be supported by the UC Regents.

Cade Uluave, a football linebacker for UC Berkeley, said athletes want to earn money. He added that players want to go to schools that will support their efforts to attain Name, Image and Likeness deals and ensure they will be sufficiently paid.

Elana Eisenberg, a field hockey player at UC Berkeley, said there needs to be more substantial guidelines for faculty to create cohesion between academic and athletic commitments, adding that this is especially necessary because of frequent travel.

“We shouldn’t get any special privileges,” Eisenberg said. “We’re not asking for necessarily extra time on a test or to make an exam take-home, but just really working with faculty to have more strict guidelines in place for what accommodations would look like.”