The UC Board of Regents will gain three new members July 1. Student regent-designate Jesse Bernal will replace current student regent D’Artagnan Scorza.
In addition, ex-officio regents-designate Ronal Stovitz and Yolanda Nunn Gorman will replace regents David Shewmake and Debbie Cole.
Bernal, designated on July 1, 2008, received his B.A. in political science from UC Santa Barbara and is currently a Ph.D. student in education there. He also served as University Affairs chair and executive board member of the UC Students Association.
Last year, Bernal ‘mdash; in collaboration with student regent Ben Allen, then regent-designate D’Artagnan Scorza and the UCSA executive board ‘mdash; was active in lowering a proposed fee increase from 10 percent at $663 per student to 7 percent at $464 per student. This lower fee increase, Bernal said, reflects the best the UC system could do during the financial crisis.
‘I think that the unfortunate thing I realized [working on the fees] … is that our colleagues on the board are saying that these are as close to zero as we would like to see them,’ Bernal said.
Bernal said he recognizes the impact the national economic crisis has had on students from lower- and middle-class incomes, but that he sees hope in programs such as the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan that provide assistance for students whose family income level falls below $60,000.
‘I think the sticker price and the sticker shock issue is very relevant,’ Bernal said. ‘The other side of the coin is that the university does pretty well to support these lower-income students.’
Bernal said one of the reasons he was interested in becoming a student regent is that LGBT issues have been absent from all nine of the university’s annual reports on staff diversity[??].
‘I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to already start working with some of the UC LGBT center directors on gaining a better understanding of the campus climate in terms of LGBT diversity,’ Bernal said. ‘I think it’s important for the [regents] to gain some insight into [the issues concerning] our LGBT community and LGBT communities of color on campuses.’
Bernal lobbied with graduate students from Students Advocating for Graduate Education in Washington last week for loan forgiveness for graduates entering careers in public service.
Alongside’ former UCSA President Louise Hendrickson, Bernal said he also worked to increase the financial-aid calendar from nine to 12 months for graduate students, ensuring coverage during the summer.
Stovitz and Nunn Gorman are taking their roles as ex-officio regents by following the paths described by the AAUC bylaws, under which the secretary and treasurer of the Alumni Association take over as the president and vice president of the AAUC. Neither Stovitz nor Nunn Gorman could be reached for comment.
Stovitz is a UC Riverside graduate and the retired presiding judge of the State Bar Court of California, which investigates cases of attorney misconduct. He served as president of the UCR Alumni Association last year and is currently a trustee of the UCR foundation.
UCLA graduate Nunn Gorman served as president of Brilliance Strategies Inc. ‘mdash; a management consulting firm that specializes in nonprofit organizational development ‘mdash; and is a part of multiple nonprofits. She acts as the chair of the board of directors of the California Association of Nonprofits, co-chair of the Chaka Khan Foundation and the last president of the UCLA Alumni Association.
Readers can contact Henry Becker at [email protected].