Public comment at Regents meeting focuses on affordability, labor contracts and divestment

During the public comment portion of the January 21 Board of Regents meeting at UCLA, more than 50 speakers gave brief remarks to the board on a wide range of issues affecting students, staff and community members.

Several recurring themes dominated remarks. Labor and contract concerns were frequent: Michael Vaught, president of AFSCME Local 32 99, said frontline UC workers have been without a contract for more than a year and called attention to compensation and homelessness among employees. He asserted the university’s financial position had strengthened while workers faced hardship, and handed regents a summary of university financial reports.

Union and campus staff speakers asked for contract improvements and pay structure changes. A Teamster member who identified as a long-term library assistant urged additional salary steps for administrative workers, saying current proposals compressed pay ranges and penalized long-tenured employees.

Student speakers raised basic needs, research funding and campus safety. Daniel Sepulveda, a UCLA PhD student in geology, asked for predictable systemwide protocols for graduate student funding and payroll and said some campus centers face loss of millions in funding. Jennifer Miyake, a recent UCLA graduate, described mental health resource shortages and said several student deaths had occurred in recent quarters; she urged expanded medical leave and counseling access.

Several speakers called on the university to divest from private equity firms they said contribute to housing instability. Jordan Ash and other callers pointed to the UC’s investments in firms such as Brookfield and Blackstone and urged engagement with residents or a pause on new investments until resident protections are agreed.

Other public comments covered Title IX policy updates (including calls to address technology-facilitated harms and AI-generated images), Native American repatriation and gratitude for Regent Greg Sarris’ leadership on NAGPRA, and questions about how NIL-related income loss from injuries is being evaluated.

UCSA president Aditi (first referenced in public comment scheduling and then in a prepared address) later addressed the regents with data on equity gaps, retention and transfer-student enrollment trends and urged the board to focus on targeted support to close persistent gaps for underrepresented students.

Regents thanked commenters and noted that public comment time is not an opportunity for immediate board response; presenters and staff were not asked to respond during the period. Many speakers requested concrete follow-up actions such as emergency funds from the UC Blue and Gold fund, expanded toxicology screening at student medical centers, and updated Title IX policies that explicitly cover technology-facilitated harms.