New UC Student Regent-Designate Jesse Cheng on Students and the Future of UC Education

Jesse Cheng campaigning on campus. Photo © Daniel C. Tsang 2009

On our 27 July 2009 Subversity show, we talked with new University of California Student Regent-Designate Jesse Cheng, a highly visible and endearing UCI student advocate, about the future direction of the UC in these dire economic times, and what his plans to counter escalating student fees and the calls to expand foreign student enrollment. He said he supports the UC pay cut and furlough plan that has been imposed on non-unionized faculty and staff. (The current UC student regent actually voted for it.) Interviewer is show host Daniel C. Tsang. Both Jesse and Daniel both were pulled over in recent years (Jesse just a couple months before the show) by Irvine PD in what they consider to be separate cases of racial profiling.

Jesse Cheng is an Asian American Studies major with an Education minor at UC Irvine. He has a secret passion, he says, to write superhero comic books as a career. Jesse is not naturally politically inclined, a quality to which his co-workers regularly attest. Jesse was first introduced to politics and public policy through work with the Asian Pacific Islander community on issues of education, bilingual services, and immigration.

He is only the second UC student regent from UCI. Jenny Doh, who currently heads the UCI Alumni Association, and also an Asian American, was the first from UCI.

You can follow Jesse's exploits, thoughts, and first-hand facts and news about California higher education on twitter.

He is featured on the UCI web site: Voice of the People.

To listen to the 27 July 2009 show, click here: .