Website www.ucsa.org Founded 11 February 1971 | Formerly called UC Student Lobby | |
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Location 385 Grand Ave, Suite 302 Oakland, California, 94610 (main office)
1020 12th Street, Suite 232 Sacramento, California, 95814 (legislative office) Affiliations United States Student Association, National Association of Graduate-Professional Students | ||
The University of California Student Association (UCSA) is a 501(c)(3) organization, purposed as a student association of all University of California (UC) students. Its charter states that it "shall exist to: serve the interests of the current and future students of the University of California and promotes [sic] cooperation between various student governments of the University and student organizations concerned with higher education." The Association plays a part in various aspects of the UC system's governance, notably including the selection of the student representative on the UC Board of Regents.
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UCSA representatives have opposed education funding cuts and increases in student fees and supported affirmative action in enrollment policies. The association mobilizes students via voter registration campaigns; it recorded 26,000 new voter registrations in 2006, and added 12,300 new registrations in 2008 for the California Democratic and Republican primaries. In April 2016, UCSA called for the removal of then-Chancellor of UC Davis, Linda Katehi.
Governance
UCSA's governing body is its board of directors, which is chartered to be made up of the external vice presidents of all UC student governments. However, UCSA generally requires each student government to pay dues to maintain voting rights on the board. Thus, student governments may effectively "withdraw" from UCSA by refusing to pay dues. As of March 2016, the UCSA board of directors included voting members from the following 17 student governments:
Non-voting student governments
Student regent selection
Southern and northern regional UC student nominating commissions annually select ten semifinalists for University of California student regent. These semifinalists are then interviewed by the UCSA board of directors. The board chooses three applicants, who are then interviewed by a special Regents' committee. The committee then recommends a nominee to the full board of University of California Regents.