Meredith Khachigian of San Clemente Elected Chairman of UC Regents

Meredith J. Khachigian, a member of the University of California Board of Regents since 1987, was unanimously elected chairman of the 26-member governing body Friday.

Khachigian, 45, of San Clemente is the third woman and the first Orange County resident in recent years to be elected to the post by her fellow regents. She is married to Ken Khachigian, a Republican campaign strategist and former speech writer for Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

An alumni of UC Santa Barbara, Khachigian said she plans to make improving undergraduate education a priority of her one-year term as chairman. As a community volunteer who has long been involved in statewide education issues, she expects to be a visible and vocal representative of the nine-campus system.

“I intend to be really very active, no doubt about it,” said Khachigian, who was first appointed a regent in 1987 by former Gov. George Deukmejian. “But I don’t enter into it with any conceptions that I’m going to breeze through this year, especially with the serious budget problems.

“I think we can achieve great things in spite of the obstacles ahead of us,” she said.

The regents earlier this year raised student fees 40%, cut enrollments, halted plans for new campuses and slashed spending to balance a $295-million shortfall in its $2.4-billion budget request for fiscal 1991-92. The state budget passed by the Assembly on Thursday calls for the UC system to take an additional $12.5-million cut.

Khachigian was chosen unanimously by her fellow regents at a meeting at UCLA on Friday.

Jeremiah F. Hallisey, a San Francisco attorney appointed regent in 1982 by former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., was named vice chairman. Both take office on July 1. Regents are not paid a salary but are reimbursed for expenses associated with the job.

Khachigian was on a “short list” of about four members that was considered for the demanding post by a selection committee of several regents. The job includes presiding over meetings, assigning issues to committees and being a UC spokesperson.

Khachigian is clearly a UC booster. But she sees room for improvement.

“I’m very interested in making the undergraduate experience richer,” she said. “For the most part, there is a good balance between research and teaching. But I want to make sure that those great researchers who are doing great things . . . are also good teachers.”

She said she would like to see smaller classes and more support for students so that they are able to graduate in four years. The average UC student now takes almost five years to earn a baccalaureate degree.

“It costs us a lot more to have people staying longer than four years,” Khachigian noted.

Another area of concern, she said, is the tension between ethnic groups as campuses have grown increasingly diverse. She said there have been incidents of racial tensions at UCLA and UC Berkeley.

“We bring people from all walks of life and we put them on these campuses. . . . But to have them get to know and enjoy each other is not something you can legislate.”

While she intends to be a high-profile chairman, Khachigian still plans to stay on the board of directors of Human Options, a shelter for battered women in Southern California. She is also a trustee of the UC Irvine Foundation.

Khachigian said her husband and two daughters in college are delighted about her new role.

“I think they realize mom has paid her dues,” she laughed. “It’s my chance to put to use what I’ve learned over the years.”

But the daughter of a Visalia insurance broker said she has no designs on elective office. “That’s the last thing I want,” Khachigian said.