When he becomes the newest voting member of the UC Board of Regents, Jesse Bernal says he will focus on preserving the university's commitment to access and diversity in a time when both are at risk.

Bernal, a graduate student in education at UC Santa Barbara and the only one of five brothers to attain a college degree, is the incoming student regent for 2009-10.

He has spent the past year working closely with the current student regent and other members of the board in order to prepare for his new role-that of representing the more than 220,000 students in the UC system.

Bernal will step into his position on July 1. Two weeks later, he will cast his first vote at a regents' meeting in which the board will address severe new cuts to state funding and consider staff pay cuts, furloughs and a potential 20 percent student fee increase.

"That's what's tough right now-it's essentially really difficult for anybody in a decision-making role to advocate for any new policy, for anything that's going to cost money," Bernal said. "It's really about being innovative about what we're going to put our time into as student regents."

Bernal, whose studies focus on underrepresented students in higher education, said it is crucial to protect opportunities for those whose success is most threatened by cuts.

"Diversity has always been a passion of mine," he said. "I'm looking to really expand some of the work in graduate student diversity, as well as expanding work within the LGBT arena, which hasn't really been a conversation we've had at a systemwide level."

Bernal currently works as manager of the Freshman Summer Start program at UC Santa Barbara Summer Sessions, and has also served as external vice president for his campus's graduate student association.

As student regents serve just two years on the board-one of them as a voting member-Bernal said it will be key for him to continue the work of the 2008-09 student regent, UCLA graduate student D'Artagnan Scorza.

"(Bernal) will be a great student regent," Scorza said. "He is very dedicated to issues of equity and access, and he understands the important role of students who are also trustees ... he gets it."

In addition to attending regents' meetings for the past three years and serving on the investments committee this year, Bernal worked with Scorza on initiatives such as a proposal to increase the transparency of the student registration fee. The proposal's recommendations were presented and approved by the board at its May meeting.

As the university's budget crisis worsens in light of proposed revisions to the state budget, Scorza added that the student regent will be crucial in ensuring that student voices and priorities are met.

"We're not there to be symbols; we're there to be actors," he said. "The role that we play in that space continues to grow over the years, especially as the university faces tough decisions."

Bernal also has a vote of confidence from leaders of the UC Students Association, where he served as chair of the university affairs committee in 2007-08.

"He has a really good understanding both of how UCSA works and on the issues we work on: accessibility, affordability and equality," said Lucero Chavez, the association's president and a student at Boalt Hall School of Law. "We're actually very excited to have him come on the board."

Tags: JESSE BERNAL, UCSA, UC BOARD OF REGENTS