Although this will come as a surprise to many administrators, faculty, staff and students, public universities belong to the people, not to you. We respect your invaluable contribution to our institutions of higher education and acknowledge that without you, they would be without value. But in the final analysis, we, the people, own these institutions and we, the people, will govern them through our duly appointed boards. I am not an elected official and I am not running for any office. My first duty as a regent is to the people of California.
Regents swear to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution and the California Constitution.
As I read those documents, racial discrimination is against the law. Proposition 209 applies to the University of California. I expect the courts to affirm soon that this initiative is the law of our state. I suggest that student leaders get comfortable with the reality that a majority of people in this state support Proposition 209 and the race-neutral principle for which it stands.