A UC Board of Regents special committee has nominated Sadia Saifuddin, an independent ASUC senator, as UC student regent for the 2014-15 term.
The student regent is a voting member of the board, attending all meetings and serving a one-year term. The position was created in 1975 to represent the voice of all students of the University of California.

“UC has a lot of difficulties and obstacles, and I think we need new creative solutions,” Saifuddin said. “I come from a legacy of people who care about education and community, and I want the people who come after to have the same opportunities that I’ve had.”

Saifuddin’s nomination awaits confirmation and will be voted on at the regents’ next meeting in July. If approved, Saifuddin will begin her one-year term in July 2014 after serving one year as student regent-designate. Saifuddin would be the 40th student regent.

“Sadia has the leadership experience and the will and drive to be a great student regent,” said current UC Student Regent-Designate Cinthia Flores, who will become student regent this July. “I’m looking forward to working with her in the coming year.”

In the fall, Saifuddin will enter her senior year at UC Berkeley as a social welfare major. During her time at UC Berkeley, Saifuddin has been involved in several campus organizations, including the UC Berkeley Muslim Students Association, the ASUC Senate and the office of Student Regent Jonathan Stein.

Saifuddin would be only the second of two undergraduates to serve as student regent in the last decade.

“To be an undergrad in that position, you have to be a superstar,” Stein said. “You have to have maturity and poise beyond your years. But it is important to have that undergraduate student at the meetings to explain to the regents what it’s like to be an undergraduate today.”

As an ASUC senator, Saifuddin was chair of the ASUC’s finance committee and was one of two co-sponsors of a controversial bill that encouraged divestment of ASUC and UC Regents funds from companies associated with the Israeli military.

“Her getting this is nothing but a testament to her to hard work representing students,” said Cooperative Movement Senator Jorge Pacheco. “Having her to represent students at a regent level is a blessing, and it’s not a surprise at all.”