By Shauna Mecartea
Daily Bruin Reporter
Dexter Ligot-Gordon was nominated as the 2002-2003 UC student
regent-designate upon the July induction of the next year’s
Student Regent Tracy Davis.
Ligot-Gordon, a third-year political economy of industrial
societies student at UC Berkeley, was recommended by the
regents’ Special Committee last week and will be considered
by the board at the September meeting.
If approved, he will partake in all deliberations but will not
be able to vote.
The 21-year-old Vallejo, Calif. native is specializing in public
policy and minoring in education. He plans to stress communication
and accessibility to the UC as well as the regents.
“Finding ways to communicate with different groups in the
community is important,” Ligot-Gordon said. “Instead of
heeding my own perspective, I look to others as well.”
If approved for the position, Ligot-Gordon will be the 28th
student regent since the position was established in 1975. Eighteen
of the 28 student regents were undergraduates and about half of the
28 were seniors, said UC Office of the President Spokesman Trey
Davis.
Ligot-Gordon, if approved, will also be the fifth-consecutive
student regent coming from Berkeley or UCLA.
His agenda includes diversifying and gaining accessibility to
the UC for socioeconomically disadvantaged students, like single
mothers.
He also said he recognizes that the student enrollment growth
over the next 10 years will force the regents to think of
innovative plans to address the needs of the growing student
body.
“We not only have to expand current programs and resources
but create new ones,” Ligot-Gordon said.
As a member of the Admissions and Enrollment Committee at UC
Berkeley, Ligot-Gordon said he played a role in creating a more
comprehensive approach in admissions.
“Applications need a lot of work,” Ligot-Gordon
said.
As of now the questions asked on the application are too
general. More detailed questions should be asked to better
understand the applicant, Ligot-Gordon said.
Aside from his work at the collegiate level, Ligot-Gordon
mentored high-school students through Project Pull, worked as a
youth director for Global Doors International and as a program
assistant for the East Bay Asian Youth Center.
He was founder and previous chair of the Pilipino Youth
Coalition and served as the youth conference coordinator for
Filipino American Social Services in Vallejo.
The California State Senate issued a resolution, SCR 89, in
2000, which described the vision for the student regent
position.
The resolution said, “Each of these students who has
served as a regent has dispatched her or his duties with idealism,
courage and vigor ““ often serving as the
“˜conscience’ of the regents.”
Justin Fong, the outgoing student regent and UC Berkeley
graduate who helped lead the repeal of SP-1 and 2, was part of the
student regent selection committee on the board.
Fong said student representatives narrow the search for the new
student regent by looking for applicants who really aim to serve
the students.
“They screen out the ones who are doing it for
“˜resume-padding,'” Fong said.
From the applicant pool, student representatives from each
campus cut the number of applicants down to 60 to 80. After
interviews, the number drops to nine.
Those nine are then questioned by a 22-member undergraduate
student board at each university and then narrowed down to three
candidates.
The final candidate is chosen by the selecting committee on the
Board of Regents.
The ultimate decision is the regents’ and this is
problematic, Fong said.
Regents David Lee and John Davies, both supporters of SP-1 and
2, joined Fong on the committee along with Regent Irene Miura and
Odessa Johnson.
Because of the somewhat conservative selecting committee, their
final decision could be affected, Fong said.
“I think it it is the best interest of the students to
choose their own representative,” Fong said.
Fong reiterated the duty of the student regent ““ being
dedicated to the students ““Â and advised his successors
to avoid the bureaucracy of the board.
“With the student regent serving two years, there is more
of a chance to become much more a part of the bureaucracy and less
passionate about their position,” Fong said.
Davis was the first student regent-designate appointed in 2000,
when the term was extended to two years.
She could not be reached for comment.
Because of Fong’s active involvement in the board, many
say he will be hard to follow.
“They are big shoes that I want to fill and hope to fill,
but I have my own agenda and style,” Ligot-Gordon said.