Benjamin Allen, the UC law student who sits on the Board of Regents, and D'Artagnan Scorza, who will take the post July 1, visited UCSC Friday to urge students to apply.
UC Santa Cruz has never had a student sit on the Board of Regents since the first student was seated for the 1975-76 academic year. The student regent sits on the board for a year after serving in a non-voting role as designate for a year.
Allen, enrolled at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall, and Scorza, a Ph.D. candidate in education at UCLA, are visiting all UC 10 campuses to encourage student regent applications. Allen, who sported a "100% Slug" button during his daylong visit, noted that he would have to alter it to "10% Slug" when visiting other campuses.
Allen and Scorza met with faculty and administrators at a breakfast hosted by Chancellor Blumenthal. They talked with students at the Student Union during a lunch sponsored by the Student Union Assembly and Graduate Student Association and later held a press conference with student journalists.
During the breakfast, Allen said he is concerned over whether the University of California can maintain quality, accessibility, affordability and service given the current state budget situation. He called on the governor and legislature to continue to "invest in quality." "The University of California is an amazing institution," he said, calling the system "miraculous."
Student regent applications are due February 21 in the chancellor's office. A question-and-answer session for applicants is scheduled for 2 p.m. February 20. More information is available at the Career Center Student Regent page.
