The UC system is a network of over 300,000 students. But at the highest level, only one student voice is allowed to vote in representation of the collective student body. How each of these campuses operate is largely determined by the UC Board of Regents — a panel with only 26 elected members.
“The regents only meet every other month, so students are often left out of the conversation when it comes to decision making. They also meet during times like our finals week or over the summer when students aren’t able to be mobilized,” said Evelin Chavez, the chair of the Stevenson Student Council, the organizing director for the Student Union Assembly (SUA), and member of the statewide UC Student Association.
The UC regents appointed undergraduate Carol Mock as the first student regent in 1975. Since then, 29 of the electees have been graduate students, with an undergraduate having not been elected since the 2021-22 academic year. This disproportionate representation of student voices and perspectives does not consult more than half of students across the UC system.
The proposal of California Assembly Constitutional Amendment (ACA 18) in February 2026, calls upon the regents to add a chair reserved for undergraduate students. Now, as ACA 18 is passing through the California Legislature, ballot votes will determine the future construction of the UC Board of Regents.
“Having a permanent undergraduate student will allow for more of a say,” Chavez said.
As access to necessities such as financial aid, housing and dining plans become more uncertain, the outcome of how the board votes not only affects the current student body, but could also jeopardize future student generations.
Multiple student unions across California worked to propose ACA 18 in collaboration with District 52 Assembly Member Jessica Caloza, who co-authored the bill alongside District 26 Assembly Member Patrick Ahrens. With an additional student voice at the table, undergraduate students could have a larger stake in enacting change across all nine UC campuses. Diverse student perspectives allow students to advocate for themselves in pressing conversations, like responsibly determining how UC funds are and should be used. 
UCSC’s Student Union Assembly office in the Redwood Lounge.
According to Chavez, the board has never nominated a student from UCSC to serve this role. The position is generally given to students from more prestigious UCs, such as UC Berkeley or UC Los Angeles, and has failed to include direct representation from a third of its institutions.
“The issues that are happening at Santa Cruz or Merced or Riverside get swept under the rug and are no longer able to be at the forefront of any issue,” she said.
Chavez further elaborated on the overlooked impact the regents have over administrative decisions, claiming that “a lot of people think, ‘Oh, this is a chancellor issue, this is a Cynthia issue. This is our administration’s issue.’ However, it stems from the regents.”
Although most of the choices made by the board will not materialize for several months or years, Chavez highlighted how incremental changes can be seen through tuition increases over the next seven years. In that time, current students may no longer be affected by these increases, leaving incoming students to cope with the lasting financial repercussions.
“It doesn’t hurt current students, so [the regents] think that the new students won’t ever know what they did wrong and won’t ever know that this happened to them,” Chavez said, “It’s very, very strategic the way they move. Students don’t get the chance to interact with them.”
Benjamin Diaz, a third-year legal studies and politics double major and vice chair of the SUA’s Office of External Affairs, alongside Chavez, discussed how his family is struggling under the current system.
“I’m a first generation college student, first to go to a UC, and I don’t want to be the last,” Diaz said. “I have younger siblings and younger family members who I hope get access to UC, and all you see is creating barriers to access it; such as the cohort tuition model and not being affordable and not supporting students where they’re at.”
At the time of publication, ACA 18 is being filtered through the California Legislature and the future of the amendment is uncertain. Zaynab Masri, a second-year and legislative director for the SUA’s Office of External Affairs, expressed concerns over how nonstudent California residents will vote. For her, this is an issue that expands past the university level, and should be treated as such.
“This affects everyone,” Masri began. “The UC is one of the biggest employers in the entire state, and we contribute so much to California’s GDP. But students don’t have food on their table, they don’t have housing and they are struggling to get by. People are dropping out because tuition’s too expensive, and those students don’t have that seat on the table, which is ridiculous,” she said.
Students are hopeful that with amplified undergraduate perspectives the regents will begin to mitigate some of these basic necessity crises. However, according to SUA Chair Rigo Ventura, this is only the beginning of an uphill battle.
Rigo Ventura is the chair of the Student Union Assembly (SUA) and is supporting the executive officers of external affairs in the efforts for ACA 18.
“It’s important that we hold two truths. The legislative process of ACA 18 is not going to liberate us. It’s not going to make students free, it’s not going to make public universities tuition-free again, it’s not going to remove everybody’s debt,” Ventura said.
“But it will support student advocacy in greater ways,” he continued. “And, we cannot negate the positivity of what will be for the sake of what we want things to be.”
