University of California, Berkeley
PA-3: Inclusive and Participatory Governance

The University of California (UC) Board of Regents is the highest form of governance for all ten UC campuses. The UC Board of Regents consists of Appointed Regents, Ex Officio Regents, and a Student Regent. Additionally, Regents-Designate, Faculty Representatives to the Regents, and Advisors to the Regents engage with and advise members of the Board.

The student Regent is a voting member of The Regents of the University of California, attending all meetings of the Board and its Committees and serving a one-year term. This position is not elected but is filled by application and open to all students currently enrolled in the UC system. From the time of appointment as a Student Regent, but prior to the commencement of service as a member of the Board, the appointee holds the title Regent-designate and is invited to participate in all meetings of the Board and of its Committees, but without a vote.

UC faculty in the Academic Senate carry out shared-governance responsibilities established by The Regents. The Senate is empowered by UC's governing body, the Board of Regents, to exercise direct control over academic matters of central importance to the University – to determine academic policy, set conditions for admission and the granting of degrees, authorize and supervise courses and curricula; and to advise the administration on faculty appointments, promotions and budgets.

The Systemwide Academic Senate and the ten Divisional Senates (one for each UC campus) provide the organizational framework that enables the faculty to exercise its right to participate in the University's governance. The faculty voice is formed through a deliberative process that includes the Standing Committees of the Senate, the Academic Council, the Assembly of the Academic Senate, and their Divisional counterparts. Consultation with the senior administration occurs in a parallel structure: at the systemwide level between the Academic Council Chair and the President; and on the campus level between the Divisional Senate Chairs and the Chancellors. With some exceptions and as defined by the Standing Order of the Regents 105.1, Senate membership is granted to individuals who have a ladder-rank or other selected academic appointment at the University.

Two faculty members — the chair and vice chair of the Academic Council — sit on the Board of Regents as non-voting members. The Academic Council elects its chair and vice chair.

Staff members can participate in governance on a UC-wide scale as Advisors to the Regents. The Staff Advisors are selected from all staff and non-Senate academic employees and are appointed by the President in consultation with the Chairman of the Board. Serving as non-voting advisors to designated Regents' committees, the Staff Advisors have direct input into the Board's deliberations and decisions.

UC Berkeley has four recognized campus constituent organizations. The Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC); the Graduate Assembly (GA); the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate; and the Berkeley Staff Assembly comprise the entire campus community and are the basis of the shared governance process of this campus.

Students have the opportunity to participate in campuswide elections to represent the student body in the ASUC executive officer positions of President (OP), Executive VP (EVP), External Affairs VP (EAVP), Academic Affairs VP (AAVP), and Student Advocate (SAO). Students can also apply to sit on a range of campuswide committees, including the ASUC Sustainability Team.

ASUC: The Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC), is the officially recognized student association at the University of California, Berkeley. Known as one of the largest and most autonomous student organizations in the nation, the ASUC is an independent 501(c)3 non profit organization separate from University governance.
https://asuc.org/

GA: The Graduate Assembly is the official representative body of the graduate and professional students at the University of California, Berkeley. The fundamental principles of the Graduate Assembly are the promotion of a vibrant student social life, inclusiveness, activism, community service, educational improvement, and professional development. In service to these principles the Graduate Assembly advocates for students, funds student groups on campus, and directly manages a variety of projects.
https://ga.berkeley.edu/

Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate: The Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate represents Berkeley faculty in the shared governance of the University of California. The Academic Senate is empowered by the Regents to determine academic policy, set conditions for admission and granting of degrees, advise the Chancellor on the campus budget, authorize and supervise courses and curricula, and advise the administration on faculty appointments, promotions, and budgets.
https://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/

BSA: The Berkeley Staff Assembly creates community, champions staff interests, and provides opportunities for networking and development. We are an organization made up of all UCB staff employees.
https://bsa.berkeley.edu/

UC Berkeley’s Capital Strategies, as part of the Administrative Division, provides a full suite of planning, design, real estate, construction, and development services to UC Berkeley. Almost every project of a certain size has a public input period, whether that consists of public hearings, open houses, notices, or surveys. For example, the campus Long Range Development Plan has a broad range of public engagement efforts aimed at including community members in the planning process as fully as possible:

Since the LRDP update was launched in early 2019, UC Berkeley has extensively engaged with the campus and its surrounding community. A community-oriented approach for updating the LRDP was critically important to campus leadership.

The 2021 LRDP represents the most comprehensive, public-facing campus planning effort in UC Berkeley’s history. The plan embodies thousands of hours of participation by faculty, students, staff, and the community, including a special LRDP Community Advisory Group with representatives appointed by the Berkeley mayor and city councilmembers, and members representing the local business community, Berkeley nonprofits and educational institutions, the arts and culture community, current student leaders, and Berkeley alumni.

The campus hosted at least one major engagement opportunity during each semester since the spring of 2019, including town halls, tabling in visible campus spaces, and hands-on substantive workshops for the campus community.

Throughout the LRDP process, the campus presented regular updates to the mayor and councilmembers that represent adjacent neighborhoods, and has met with the city's planning staff on a quarterly-basis to solicit input and feedback.

In addition to in-person outreach, the campus has regularly updated an LRDP website with news, key documents, and conducted a six-month survey (from April-October 2019) to seek input from faculty, staff, students and the general public about the future development of the campus.

This robust public engagement effort provided both the campus and its surrounding community ample opportunities to review information throughout the multiyear LRDP update process and to weigh in with meaningful participation.

Long Range Development Plan: https://lrdp.berkeley.edu/

Capital Strategies: https://capitalstrategies.berkeley.edu/resources-notices/public-notices

The UC Berkeley Foundation
The UC Berkeley Foundation supports and advances the University of California at Berkeley to assure its place as a preeminent global institution by encouraging private philanthropy, providing leadership and serving as an advisory council and steady source of assistance to Berkeley’s Chancellor and to the campus as a whole.

With a diverse membership of elected trustees and elected executive officers, the Board of Trustees consists largely of Berkeley alumni and includes the Chancellor of UC Berkeley.

https://www.ucberkeleyfoundation.org/

The STARS Technical Manual does not provide clear methodology or guidance for how to report for this credit in the absence of formal self-identification of gender or underrepresented groups status.

The Board of Regents’ office stated that it would be inappropriate to survey board members regarding gender identities or other identification regarding under-represented groups because of privacy concerns. With input from the AASHE STARS Team, UC Office of the President and campuses devised a count based on the pronouns used on the Regent’s website biographies.

The pronouns used in the public biographies of the 26 people listed on the Board of Regents Members and Advisors web page were used as the proxy to determine the number that are women and/or individuals who do not self-identify as men. Fifteen people had “he/him” pronouns in their bios and eleven people had “she/her” pronouns, resulting in a count of 42% women/individuals not identified as men. These data form the basis for our response regarding gender.

Because there is no clear methodology or guidance for how to ascertain underrepresented groups status of individual members of the Board of Regents, in the absence of self-identification, the UC campuses have chosen not to respond to the optional question about underrepresented groups. In the future, the UC will continue to work with the system-wide Diversity and Engagement office, who also seek more official Board demographics data, in an attempt to get official public reporting of gender data, and, as appropriate, underrepresented groups status.