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Monday, December 1, 1997

Letters

Regents neglect California views

In a response to recent criticism of the Board of Regents for failing to consider, much less represent, the opinions of the students, staff and faculty, Mike Oliver ("That's the way it should be," Nov. 26) chastises critics of the regents for failing to understand that the Board of Regents is supposed to represent the people of California.

However, Mr. Oliver fails to notice the complete failure of the Board of Regents to represent our great state.

Currently, the regents are overwhelmingly Republican/conservative (with California approximately evenly split) as well as overwhelmingly upper-class. Moreover, there is also an overrepresentation of whites (with an underrepresentation of Latinos/Chicanos) as well as a disproportionate representation of real-estate agents, attorneys, and current and former politicians on the board.

This blatant (and arguably deliberate) failure to represent the state of California may explain why the regents frequently take up issues more political than educational; engage in union-busting tactics against staff, residents and graduate students, and have our campus continually in a construction straightjacket.

The Board of Regents needs to pay closer attention to their primary mission: shepherding the University of California back to its position as the premier public educational institution in the nation.

John Hetts

Graduate student

Social psychology

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