3 Republican Nominees Withdrawn from Consideration for UC Regents Board

Black Issues in Higher Education, Feb 4, 1999

SAN FRANCISCO -- University of California (UC) regents marked a changing of the political guard last month with formal farewells to three Republican appointees whose nominations were withdrawn by Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.

Several regents bemoaned the loss of the departed trio, nominees of former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, as a sign that appointment to the board has turned into a partisan free-for-all.

"I am confident that Gov. Davis will give us outstanding replacements for those three people. Nevertheless, I think the political fallout from this is very costly," says Regent John Davies, chairman of the board.

The three regents whose names were withdrawn -- Carol Chandler, John Hotchkiss, and Ralph Ochoa -- had been dogged by political turmoil from the start. Wilson announced the appointments of Chandler and Hotchkiss hours before a controversial 13-12 vote in November 1997 to extend benefits to same-sex partners. Wilson voted "No," as did Chandler, Hotchkiss, and Ochoa, whose appointment had been announced the day before.

The appointments were later derailed when the Democrat-controlled Senate indicated it would not review the nominations within the one-year time limit required for confirmation.

There have been other signs that the advent of the state's first Democratic governor in 16 years may mean changes for the board. The day after the election, Regent Bill Bagley, who opposed the board's controversial 1995 vote to repeal affirmative action, sent colleagues a memo asking, "Did this board, in all good conscience, perceive the unintended consequences of its July 1995 action?"

A new vote on affirmative action would be largely symbolic because voters have since passed Proposition 209, which bans race-based admissions in all state education.

Bagley has not made a formal proposal to the board and says it might be some months before he decides whether to do so.

Davis, who has the power to appoint four regents now and five more during his term, has not announced his picks.

Two other Wilson appointees, Stephen Gould and Joanne Kozberg, also were pending when Davis won election last November. Davis withdrew Gould's name but left Kozberg on the board.

A seat on the 26-member UC Board of Regents is one of the most prestigious and far-reaching appointments a governor can make because the term lasts for 12 years.

Davis, who as lieutenant governor was a regular at regents meetings, has not attended the two meetings held since he was elected governor. But, as is customary, he has outlined a proposed budget for next year, one that could mean the first student fee increase in six years.

The spending plan would give UC a $118 million increase in state funds over the base of $2.3 billion provided for 1998-99, including $11.6 million toward a Davis initiative to help improve public schools. The proposal trims $50 million in state support for UC and rejects an additional $70 million request for libraries, instructional technology, maintenance, and other special needs.

However, UC officials say the budget proposal probably was constrained by forecasts of smaller economic growth and the figures may get better when the economic forecast is updated in May.

Davis also has made an early recommendation on admissions policies. He is endorsing a plan, under consideration for more than a year, to admit the top 4 percent of graduates in each high school (see Black Issues, Jan. 21, 1999). The plan, which is expected to increase slightly the number of Blacks and Hispanics eligible for UC, is expected to be discussed at the next regents meeting and voted on in March.

In recent years the process for nominating members to the California board of regents has become increasingly contentious. In 1994, Lester Lee, a Chinese American businessman nominated by Wilson, was rejected by the Senate. Democrats charged he was a "rubber stamp" for Wilson and had backed hefty student fee increases while supporting pay raises for administrators. Then in 1997, two years after the controversial affirmative action vote, the Senate voted along party lines to oust the board's chairman, Tirso del Junco, rejecting his reappointment by Wilson.