Listen to the Regents: Morning of May 17, 2017

Now available are the audio recordings of the meetings the Regents held on the morning of May 17, 2017.

The audios are preserved by this blog indefinitely because the Regents delete their recordings after one year. Under the revised format for Regents meetings, committees meet simultaneously in different rooms. On the morning of May 17, there was a full board meeting and then meetings of three committees. Academic and Student Affairs and then National Labs met in one room. In another room, Finance and Capital Strategies met. Here is a direct link to Academic and Student Affairs and National Labs:

All the sessions can be heard at this address:
https://archive.org/details/Regents-financecapitalstrategiesEdited5-17-17

Below is the Daily Bruin summary of the morning meetings:

The University of California Board of Regents, governing board of the UC, met at UC San Francisco for its bimonthly board meeting. The board discussed student housing, transfer student enrollment and the state budget.

Students and union workers disrupted the beginning of the meeting for about 15 minutes, chanting, “Whose university? Our university” in protest of the UC’s alleged nondisclosure of $175 million and generous salaries, which a state audit revealed in April.

Academic and Student Affairs Committee

• The regents discussed reviewing student residency policy and planned to bring recommendations for classifying student residency by fall 2018 in preparation for newly admitted students.
• Aimée Dorr, UC Office of the President provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, talked about implementing a one-year independent residency policy to replace the current two-year requirement. Regents also discussed how a student’s residency could impact their admission and encouraged implementing a UC policy that aligns with state laws.
• Robin Holmes-Sullivan, vice president of student affairs, said that selected UC campuses will reach the goal of accepting one transfer student for every two freshmen by the end of next year.
• Chancellor Gene Block said UCLA has been consistent with the two-to-one ratio since 2003. Block added UCLA achieved the admission ratio through approaching more transfer students by assigning staff members to work with community colleges in California.
• UC Riverside Chancellor Kim Wilcox said how close a UC campus is to a community college is an important factor for transfer applicants, and thinks the UC should reach out to more transfer applicants so they have more incentives to apply. Wilcox added the UC could achieve the two-to-one ratio by reducing the number of freshman admissions.

Finance and Capital Strategies Committee

• The committee approved budgets and designs for several new buildings at UC San Francisco and the renovation of the UCLA graduate art studio on Warner Drive.
• The committee also approved funding to help UCLA explore the potential of five housing sites discussed at the March meeting. Regent Hadi Makarechian suggested condensing housing options because land is expensive in Westwood. Steve Olsen, UCLA vice chancellor and chief financial officer said the campus aims to house 60 percent of undergraduate students.
• Nathan Brostrom, UCOP executive vice president and chief financial officer, updated the committee on UC President Janet Napolitano’s student housing initiative. He added the UC’s proportion of students housed on campus is lower than the proportions of private universities but higher than those of many public universities. He said campuses have added about 18,000 beds from 2006-2016.