Victory! UC Student Regent Responsible for Sexual Assault Forced to Resign

The Justice for Laya coalition and more than 800 Change.org members who signed their petition have a major victory to celebrate: Jesse Cheng, the student regent on the University of California Board of Regents, has resigned after being found responsible for the sexual battery of his girlfriend. Cheng had insisted that he had no intention of resigning and appealed the initial UC-Irvine Office of Student Conduct decision, but there was no difference in their ruling the second time around.

Cheng, in an attempt to save face, claimed that he didn't resign over the failure of his appeal, but because it's taken "a lot of time and energy away from the real issues." Ah yes, because sexual assault certainly doesn't qualify as a "real issue." And obviously it is just a coincidence that Cheng suddenly changed his mind about resigning a matter of days after the conduct ruling against him.

Members of the Justice for Laya Coalition, including lead organization AF3IRM, which sponsored the petition on Change.org, are pleased with the impact they were able to have. "AF3IRM and the Justice for Laya Coalition's victory in forcing Jesse Cheng to resign was achieved by grassroots organizing, including the important use of the Change.org petition platform for national and international projection of our issue. The user-friendly, progressive tool allowed us to reach a wide-range of audience and potential supporters that were not informed of the issue through our other means."

"This is a victory for my case, but also for other victims of sexual assault, battery, and rape," "Laya" commented in a press release. "We are one step closer for creating a place where women can step forward, demand, and actually receive genuine justice."

But the Justice for Laya campaign isn't over yet. The coalition is still petitioning for full funding of Women's Resource Centers, whose budget are on the Regents' chopping block. "About 1 in 5 college women will be sexually assaulted and 65% of rapes go unreported," stated Annalisa Enrile, Board President of the Mariposa Center for Change, another member organization in the coalition. "It's our duty to continue to demand that Women's Centers be fully-funded, so as to provide necessary resources to victims and education to avoid future incidents such as Laya's."

You can sign AF3IRM's petition telling the Board of Regents that Cheng's resignation isn't enough -- the Board has failed to issue a strong statement against sexual violence, failed to demonstrate real concern for survivors. It seems like Cheng was pressure to resign to save the Board of Regents from having to remove him. The Regents has a responsibility to save the funding for Women's Resource Centers and take a stand against sexual assault, instead of just hiding in the background to avoid controversy.

Photo credit: Justice for Laya