When UC Davis student Walid Jailani spoke before the UC Board of Regents last week, he was far from the only Aggie in the room.

Jailani, a fourth-year majoring in neurobiology, physiology and behavior, spoke at the meeting at UC San Francisco as part of a discussion item highlighting student-run charities. He founded the School of Freedom, a virtual school that provides education to girls in Afghanistan who have outgrown the approved offerings there.

Four Aggies, including students, faculty and staff, hold official roles with the UC Board of Regents, which oversees all 10 UC campuses; other Aggies address the regents at each meeting but don’t hold formal roles on the board.

Jailani told the regents about the origin of his organization during his freshman year at UC Davis, spurred on by news of the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan that led to a ban on secondary and higher education for girls and women.

“We were sitting with a group of friends and just discussing this whole issue, and we all just decided to do something about it and start teaching,” Jailani said.

At first, 10 times more students signed up to take virtual English classes than Jailani and his fellow UC Davis students could accommodate. Now the organization teaches 1,200 students at a time, with a goal to “empower students academically while also nurturing them as future leaders in their communities,” Jailani told the regents.

Jailani is a former guest on Face to Face With Chancellor May, and UC Davis’ chancellor introduced him to the regents last week, calling Jailani “a student who embodies the very best values at the University of California.”

Chancellor Gary S. May told the regents: “He is a powerful example of how one's personal experience can catalyze a movement. We are incredibly proud to call him an Aggie.”

More Aggies at regents meetings

The September meeting for the regents was also the debut of UC Davis Professor of Chemical Engineering Ahmet Palazoglu as chair of the systemwide Academic Senate. That position also makes Palazoglu the primary systemwide faculty representative to the regents. 

He called it the “ultimate responsibility” of his career to advocate for thousands of faculty members across the UC system.

Palazoglu praised the university as being an agent of positive change, and acknowledged that the system now faces new challenges driven by internal and external pressures.

“Collectively, collaboratively, purposefully, we at UC will drive the change because that’s what we are known for. We have certainly done that before, we can do it again,” he told the regents. “While the dark clouds obscure the path forward, I choose to believe that we have the means to keep us true to the path — the path toward the UC that prioritizes quality, champions access and affordability.”

Another advisor to the regents is Mayté Frías, who shares her perspective as a UC Davis staffer. She works as a senior research associate in Student Affairs Assessment, measuring the effectiveness of programs like tutoring or resource centers that are meant to help students be successful.

In the 2024-25 academic year, Frías served as staff advisor-designate. She now is in her one-year term as the full staff advisor, including time on committees related to public engagement, academic and student affairs, and more.

The September regents meeting was also the first of the 2025-26 term for Aditi Hariharan, who is returning for another term as president of the UC Student Association. Hariharan is a fifth-year double majoring in political science and nutrition science at UC Davis. She urged the regents to work toward protecting the UC’s “values, its commitment to access and affordability.”

As president of the UC Student Association, Hariharan is given a few minutes to address the board at each regularly scheduled meeting.

Two more Aggies are serving as regent-designates this year:

Charles Melton ’08 will serve as alumni-regent-designate in the 2025-26 year, and full alumni regent in 2026-27.

"As an alum, I care deeply about making sure alumni voices help shape the future of the University of California,” Melton told Dateline UC Davis after his first regents meeting in July. “I aim to strengthen connections across all 10 campuses and invite more alumni to participate in the conversation — whether through mentorship, advocacy or support. Alumni know firsthand what UC can do, and our experiences can help ensure that future students have access to the same life-changing opportunities we did."

He called it “powerful” to have so many UC Davis voices represented at regents meetings.

Miguel Craven, who is pursuing a master’s degree at UC Davis in energy systems, is starting his one-year term as student-regent-designate. He will serve as full student regent in 2026-27.

Craven will share more about his goals and motivation for joining the regents in an upcoming episode of Face to Face With Chancellor May. Tune into that show on Sept. 30 to hear more from him.