Sherry Lansing

At its virtual meeting Wednesday, the UC Board of Regents passed the UC Office of the President, or UCOP, 2021-22 budget, discussed student mental health needs, heard updates on open access agreements for research and explored ways to support campus innovation and entrepreneurship.

At its first virtual meeting of 2021, the UC Board of Regents approved funding for a technology fellowship pilot program, discussed telehealth developments and listened to concerns regarding racial discrimination.

If passed in November, Proposition 14 will authorize $5.5 billion dollars in general obligation bonds to fund the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine’s, or CIRM’s, stem cell research grants.

On Thursday, the UC Board of Regents’ last public meeting of the month largely focused on the promotion of equity and innovation, as it was dominated by discussions of supporting affirmative action and investing in UC research and ideas.

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UC system’s financial, health and student success outcomes dominated discussions during the UC Board of Regents meetings Wednesday.

The UC Board of Regents makes decisions that impact every UC student’s life — determining student tuition, approving campus developments, setting the UC system’s budget and more — yet most students across the system do not know who the regents are.

With UC President Janet Napolitano stepping down this coming August, UC Board of Regents chair John Pérez has appointed a Special Committee to Consider the Selection of a President.

Members of the UC Board of Regents gathered at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center on Thursday to talk about the state and UC Office of the President, or UCOP, budgets for 2019-20, the board's goals to improve and create more academic programs in the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and a proposition for a new cohort-based tuition plan.

John Pérez was elected as the 2019-20 chair of the UC Board of Regents in May and started working in the new position July 1.

The UC Board of Regents agreed Thursday to table the vote on a proposed non-resident tuition increase of 2.6 percent, allowing time to explore other sources of funding.