WHEREAS, the UC Board of Regents is comprised of 18 appointed Regents serving 12-year terms, 7 ex-officio Regents serving as a condition of their position in the California state government or UC system, and only 1 voting Student Regent;

WHEREAS, the students of the University were instrumental in helping to establish the Student Regent position in 1975, 40 years ago;

WHEREAS, aside from this Student Regent, students can find official roles in the University’s governance system to the UC Board of Regents through the positions of

Student Observer, Student Advocate to the Regents (StARs), and Systemwide Committee Representative;

WHEREAS, not one of these additional roles for student representation includes voting power on the Board, the right to introduce policy or advocate policy at Board meetings, or the ability to develop long-term relationships with the Regents;

WHEREAS, the Student Regent is therefore the only student who has the ability to contextualize conversations that can ultimately shape the trajectory of decision-making by the UC Board of Regents;

WHEREAS, the students of UC Irvine feel it is within their right to be afforded due representation in the governance model of the university system of which they comprise so great a part;

WHEREAS, one student cannot possibly represent the interests of all 246,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students within the UC system;

WHEREAS, the students of UC Irvine therefore feel they are not afforded such fair and adequate representation within the current governance model;

WHEREAS, the Student Advisor shall be afforded similar rights and privileges as the Student Regent, with the exception of voting power, and serve for the same one-year term;

WHEREAS, the Student Advisor shall provide a complementary perspective on student issues to the Student Regent and be enrolled as a part of an educational program that is complementary to the then-serving Student Regent (undergraduate, graduate, professional);

WHEREAS, the students of the University, operating through the University of California Student Association (UCSA) and Council of Presidents, shall be fully involved in the selection of the Student Advisor through inclusion in the final selection committee;

WHEREAS, the process of creating an additional Student Regent position with full voting power can take years and cost millions of dollars due to the position’s definition in the California State Constitution;

WHEREAS, the Student Advisor position thus presents an opportunity to have a complementary student perspective on the Board, without the costs and labor that will ultimately be associated with amending the California State Constitution in order to create an additional Student Regent position;

WHEREAS, the Student Advisor position shall serve as an intermediary stage to the eventual establishment of a second Student Regent by Constitutional Amendment while student leaders work toward this long-term goal;

WHEREAS, the Student Advisor position shall be proposed by the current Student Regent, Abraham “Avi” Oved at the November 2015 Regents meeting;

WHEREAS, the position will be formally established upon the vote of approval of a majority of the Board at the November 2015 Regents meeting;

THEREFORE LET IT BE RESOLVED, that the non-voting Student Advisor position shall offer students an additional means of representation on the Board which includes the power to speak at Board meetings and develop long-term relationships with the Regents, unlike the previously described student positions;

FURTHER LET IT BE RESOLVED, that ASUCI Legislative Council recommends to the Regents to approve the Student Advisor measure without delay and advises all students to voice their support in favor of said resolution.