Student regents mark 50 years, outline campus advocacy and state policy priorities

Student regents Sonia Brooks and Josiah Bahari told the University of California Regents committee that, in the 50th anniversary year of the student regent role, they spent the year traveling the system, amplifying student needs and building channels for student input.
The student regents said they focused on four pillars — advocate, educate, communicate and innovate — visiting all 10 UC campuses, meeting students and campus leaders, and presenting at conferences to raise student priorities such as basic needs, disability services and support for undocumented and parenting students.
The student regents described dozens of outreach activities: presenting at more than 50 conferences, attending over 30, and holding roughly 100–200 meetings systemwide to connect students with campus leadership and to mentor student leaders. Sonia Brooks said the pair intentionally held town-hall–style “fireside chats” and one-on-one forums to create feedback loops between students and the Board; Josiah Bahari emphasized mentoring and bringing marginalized student voices into governance conversations.
Student observer Brenda Sanchez delivered a final statement to the committee and urged the Regents to support several active bills in the California Legislature she said are important to UC students: SB 98 (the SAFE Act, requiring alerts when immigration enforcement is present on campus), SB 271, AB 357, AB 791, AB 850, SB 323 (California Financial Aid Assurance Act) and other measures addressing childcare, coastal housing and financial-aid protections. Sanchez also described UCSA’s budget advocacy to oppose proposed cuts to UC funding and to secure funding for food banks and transfer disability services.
Committee members praised the student regents and the student observer for bringing direct student perspectives to Regents meetings; several Regents and administrators recommended preserving and sharing the students’ presentation materials as mentoring tools for future student regents and applicants.
No formal committee action or vote on policy followed the presentations; the remarks were offered as information and as requests for support for the legislation Sanchez named.