Former Student Protester Named to Board of Regents

UCLA graduate student Justin W. Fong, who was once arrested at a UC regents meeting for protesting the ban on affirmative action, was named Friday to become the next student representative on the Board of Regents.

A committee of regents picked Fong from a field of 10 candidates for the yearlong position that begins in July.

“He’s a dynamic guy,” said Eli Ilano, president of the UC Student Assn. “He’s been a grass-roots student organizer. He’s been in student government and on statewide committees. Even after all of these experiences, he’s still a huge cheerleader for UC.”

Fong was one of a group of students arrested at the raucous July 1995 meeting at which the Board of Regents adopted its ban on racial and gender preferences in admissions, hiring and contracting.

“He was creating a disturbance at a regents meeting,” said Chief Ronald D. Nelson of the UC San Francisco Police Department. “He was cited and released.” No charges were ever filed.

“The incident is behind me,” Fong said in an interview Thursday. “I’m now looking forward to working with the regents . . . to make the university a better place.”

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 209, extending the affirmative action ban to all public agencies in the state.

Fong, 25, who grew up in San Francisco, earned his bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences at UC Berkeley. He is now pursuing a master’s degree in public policy.

Michelle K. Pannor, the current student regent, said Fong will be a terrific addition to the 26-member board that sets policy for the nine-campus university system.

“This is the first time we have had a public policy student as a student regent,” she said. “That’ll be neat. He’ll bring an educated view to the board.”