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The UC Board of Regents, shown here during the fall regents meeting held in Covel Commons, will b

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In a meeting that seems to be light on action and heavy on discussion, the UC Board of Regents will focus on student fees, the state budget and the Department of Energy Labs during their bimonthly meeting at UCLA today and Thursday.

These topics are all part of an ongoing discussion that the regents have had for several months and will likely continue to have for several more.

The regents will discuss the DOE labs, but will not yet make a final decision on the bid for the management contract of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The regents voted to bid for management of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at their last meeting in January, but there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the University of California’s role in Los Alamos due to the type of research conducted there and certain security breaches that have occurred in the past.

“We’re still waiting for the Department of Energy to release its final request,” said Trey Davis, a spokesman for the UC Office of the President.

One discussion that is of interest to many students is on-campus-based student fees, which cover such services as health, fitness and career centers and are established through a referendum process in which students vote to approve the fees they pay.

There has been concern about this process from students and regents.

With the reduction in state funding, students are faced with a difficult decision – to pay more or receive less.

“Students ... are feeling forced to tax themselves to pay for services,” said Mónica Henestroza, director of university affairs for UC Students Association.

The payment for these services varies greatly across the UC, with newer campuses hit much harder – students at UC Davis pay over $1,200 annually compared to the $334 that UCLA students pay in on-campus-based fees.

With these fees soaring, some regents have expressed concern that students are not making wise decisions.

“There has been in the past some regental concern over the ability of students to levy fees upon themselves,” said Jennifer Lilla, president of UCSA. “There’s this feeling amongst some regents that this is being taken advantage of” and that students are “voting to levy fees upon themselves that don’t make sense.”

But Lilla said that she does not believe students are voting irresponsibly.

“We’re not voting to have free ice cream day for students when there’s a gap to be filled by lack of administrative support for student services,” she said.

The regents will review the fairness of the referendum process.

In a discussion that is closely tied to the problem of student fees, the regents will review the state budget.

“The governor’s budget is on the table and the legislature is looking at it,” Davis said. “It’s an ongoing process.”

The Legislative Analyst’s Office, which reviews the state budget and offers recommendations to the state, has made various suggestions, which some students do not see as reasonable.

One that Lilla said she does not believe makes sense is the LAO’s opinion that it is unnecessary to use student fees toward financial aid.

Currently, 25 percent of the income from student fees is used for financial aid.

“They adamantly feel that institutional aid isn’t really necessary because the neediest students are covered by Cal Grants,” Lilla said.

Neither the administration nor the students agree with this assessment, she said, calling the recommendation “silly.”

Campus fees and financial aid will be the focus of one of the demonstrations that will take place at the regents meeting, but others will also address diversity issues, professional school fees and labor concerns.

UCLA service workers will take the opportunity to lobby for better wages and working conditions. Workers have been voting throughout the week on whether to strike and will hold a press conference at the regents meeting today to publicize their complaints.

Students from By Any Means Necessary, a group advocating for what they call the new civil rights movement, will also be present at the meeting. Even with former regent Ward Connerly off the board, students will continue to attack him and what they see as his destructive legacy.

“We do want to mark the occasion that this is the first board meeting held without Ward Connerly,” said Yvette Felarca of BAMN.

In his absence, some students hope to increase minority enrollment.

Felarca presented several ways that she and other students believe the regents can increase minority enrollment, including restoring affirmative action, de-emphasizing the SAT in admissions and disregarding the new section of the SAT.

“It’s going to exacerbate the inequality,” Felarca said of the new section, adding that it will put students from lower-income schools and those who speak English as a second language at a disadvantage.

Middle school, high school and college students will be present at the meeting to voice these suggestions, Felarca said.

On Thursday, professional school students will “protest the death of public-interest education,” Lilla said.

“By jacking up the prices of the University of California, it is making it harder and harder for students to go into public interest,” she said, especially as public-interest jobs are often low paying.