University of California Student Association


The University of California Student Association is an active 501 federation of University of California undergraduate students' associations, purposed as a student association of all UC students. Its charter states that it "shall exist to: serve the interests of the current and future students of the University of California and promotes cooperation between various student governments of the University and student organizations concerned with higher education." The Association is not a public agency, but its leadership is composed of representatives of UC student governments, which are "official units of the University" system. UCSA participates in various aspects of the UC system's governance, notably including the selection of the student representative on the UC Board of Regents.
UCSA representatives have opposed education funding cuts and increases in student fees and supported affirmative action in enrollment policies. The association mobilizes students via voter registration campaigns; it recorded 26,000 new voter registrations in 2006, and added 12,300 new registrations in 2008 for the California Democratic and Republican primaries. In April 2016, UCSA called for the removal of then-chancellor of UC Davis, Linda Katehi. In January and October 2017, UCSA called for the removal of Norman Pattiz, a UC Regent, due to sexual harassment allegations that Pattiz has admitted to.

Governance

UCSA's governing body is its board of directors, which is chartered to be made up of the external vice presidents of all UC student governments. However, UCSA generally requires each student government to pay dues to maintain voting rights on the board. Thus, student governments may effectively "withdraw" from UCSA by refusing to pay dues.
In May 2017, the UCSA board of directors included voting members from 18 student governments. That number dropped to 11 in 2018 because a number of professional and graduate student governments withdrew from UCSA and formed a separate organization named "University of California Graduate and Professional Council".
, the UCSA board of directors included voting members from the following student governments:
The UC student Council of Presidents annually selects a cohort of semifinalists. These semifinalists are then interviewed by the UCSA board of directors. The board chooses three applicants, who are then interviewed by a special Regents' committee. The committee then recommends a nominee to the full board of University of California Regents.