The regents will vote on the recommendation during their July 12-14 meeting. If approved, Stein would become the 38th student regent since the position was established in 1975. He would then serve as student regent-designate for the coming year, able to participate in all deliberations. He would not have voting privileges, however, until his one-year term begins in July 2012.
"The University of California has reached a crisis point," said Stein. "We have been cut as much as we can be. Another cut means driving a final stake through the Master Plan's commitment to quality, access and affordability, a commitment that has made the UC such an incredible, unique institution. I'm ready to go wherever I'm needed to fight for the university. I want to be one of the UC's systemwide leaders in advocacy."
Stein, who expects to earn both a master's from the Goldman School of Public Policy and a J.D. from Berkeley Law in May 2013, has been active in politics on the Berkeley campus and currently serves as a board member of California Common Cause. He founded Berkeley Common Cause, which is dedicated to ending UC's budget crisis by reforming state government. He earned a B.A. in English from Harvard University. Stein grew up in Cupertino, Calif., the son of an Indian-born mother and American-born father, and hopes to make improving the campus climate for diversity a major priority during his tenure on the Board of Regents.
"I hope to reach out to campuses victimized by hate crimes and hate incidents in the past year," he said. "We should be a nationwide leader on diversity and on making communities of color, the LGBT community and other underrepresented communities feel as though they are not just welcome, but celebrated."
The student regent for 2011-12 is Alfredo Mireles Jr., a UC San Francisco graduate student.
Stein's nominating committee consisted of regents Fred Ruiz (chair), Darek DeFreece, Rex Hime, Mireles, Bonnie Reiss and Leslie Tang Schilling. The policy on the appointment of the student regent is available at www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/studentreg.html.
This year, 56 students from all 10 UC campuses applied for the position. In accord with its policy, the regents' committee interviewed three finalists, whose names were submitted by the UC Student Association after its interviews with the 10 semifinalists.
Stein can be reached at jtstein@berkeley.edu.
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