Spring 10 | Fall 09 | Spring 09 | Fall 08 | Spring 08 | Fall 07 | Spring 07 | Fall 06 | Spring 06 | Fall 05 | Spring 05 | Fall 04 Title A Bill In Support of Democratizing the UC Regents Number 251 Week Bill Entered Committee 5/4/04 Author Hillary Lehr Sponsor Senator Oatfield, Senator Chen, and Senator Mairena Semester Spring 09 Committee Constitutional Review Status in Committee Passed with Amendments Status in Senate Passed Original Text Committee Text WHEREAS, the University of California Regents are selected by the Governor of the State of California and appointed to 12-year terms, with no process of democratic election or input by the con-stituents of the University of California -- students, faculty, workers, community members who live in cities that host UCs, and taxpayers; and WHEREAS, the lack of democratic process has resulted in a Board of Regents that is almost completely unaccountable to its constituents; and WHEREAS, the 1974 Senate California Constitutional Amendment states that the Regents shall "be able persons broadly reflective of the economic, cultural, and social diversity of the State, including ethnic minorities and women," and this provision is not being honored and has never been honored; and WHEREAS, UC Regents throughout history have repeatedly exploited and abused their positions on the Board of Regents to grant their corporations lucrative contracts in order to personally enrich themselves, in flagrant violation of all appropriate laws and customs surrounding conflicts of interest; and WHEREAS, current UC Board of Regents Chairman Richard Blum used his position to personally enrich himself by granting contracts to his corporations Perini and URS, and Blum only admitted to the conflict of interest and divested from those corporations following confrontation by stu-dent protestors; and WHEREAS, the UC Regents currently govern the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which have designed and continue to design every nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal, even after repeated security violations and severe pollution leaks, and despite the fact that nuclear weapons are a severe threat to the continuation of life on Earth; and WHEREAS, the UC Regents continue to manage the national nuclear weapon laboratories despite the fact that every student government in the UC System has passed a resolution calling on the Regents to sever ties from the weapons laboratories; and WHEREAS, other states have public universities with regents that are elected by the people, amongst other democratic processes; and WHEREAS, Americans and Californians should practice what we preach: democracy; and WHEREAS, students are often the initial agents of powerful change, an example being the fight against the UC Regents to divest from apartheid in South Africa, which led to the ASUC that is dis-cussing this bill at this moment; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the ASUC calls for democratization of the UC Board of Regents. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that in order for democratization to happen, a process should be initiated by stakeholders such as students, workers, faculty, and community members, to craft and institute a new form of Regential appointment that would result in a UC Board of Regents that will be more responsible, accountable, and transparent, and strive to meet the needs of its constituents. Final Text WHEREAS, the University of California Regents are selected by the Governor of the State of California and appointed to 12-year terms, with no process of democratic election or input by the con-stituents of the University of California -- students, faculty, workers, community members who live in cities that host UCs, and taxpayers; and WHEREAS, the lack of democratic process has resulted in a Board of Regents that is almost completely unaccountable to its constituents; and WHEREAS, the 1974 Senate California Constitutional Amendment states that the Regents shall "be able persons broadly reflective of the economic, cultural, and social diversity of the State, including ethnic minorities and women," and this provision is not being honored and has never been honored; and WHEREAS, UC Regents throughout history have repeatedly exploited and abused their positions on the Board of Regents to grant their corporations lucrative contracts in order to personally enrich themselves, in flagrant violation of all appropriate laws and customs surrounding conflicts of interest; and WHEREAS, current UC Board of Regents Chairman Richard Blum used his position to personally enrich himself by granting contracts to his corporations Perini and URS, and Blum only admitted to the conflict of interest and divested from those corporations following confrontation by stu-dent protestors; and WHEREAS, the UC Regents currently govern the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which have designed and continue to design every nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal, even after repeated security violations and severe pollution leaks, and despite the fact that nuclear weapons are a severe threat to the continuation of life on Earth; and WHEREAS, the UC Regents continue to manage the national nuclear weapon laboratories despite the fact that every student government in the UC System has passed a resolution calling on the Regents to sever ties from the weapons laboratories; and WHEREAS, other states have public universities with regents that are elected by the people, amongst other democratic processes; and WHEREAS, Americans and Californians should practice what we preach: democracy; and WHEREAS, students are often the initial agents of powerful change, an example being the fight against the UC Regents to divest from apartheid in South Africa, which led to the ASUC that is dis-cussing this bill at this moment; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the ASUC calls for democratization of the UC Board of Regents. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that in order for democratization to happen, a process should be initiated by stakeholders such as students, workers, faculty, and community members, to craft and institute a new form of Regential appointment that would result in a UC Board of Regents that will be more responsible, accountable, and transparent, and strive to meet the needs of its constituents.