UC Student Regent Denies Sexual Battery Accusations

UC Irvine investigates charges made by a UCLA student against Jesse Cheng, and UC Regents monitor situation
By: Ryan Mac

The only student member on the board of Regents of the University of California, who is under scrutiny after being accused of sexual assault by another student, declared his innocence and said he would not step down as a regent.

Jesse Cheng, a student at the University of California, Irvine and a Cupertino native, was arrested in November by Irvine police on charges of sexual battery, as reported yesterday by UCI’s campus newspaper, the New University.

The accuser, a graduate student at UCLA who was interviewed by the newspaper and identified herself as “Laya,” accused Cheng of sexual misconduct during a visit to his apartment in early October. Laya reported the incident to the police four weeks after the incident, which led to Cheng’s eventual arrest for sexual battery and an investigation by Irvine police.

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The police reported their findings to the Orange County District Attorney’s office. The DA decided not to move forward with misdemeanor charges related to the arrest against Cheng due to an “insufficiency of evidence,” DA Chief of Staff Susan Kang Schroeder told The Bay Citizen Tuesday.

Cheng maintained his innocence in an interview with The Bay Citizen, his first media interview about the incident.

“There is no evidence to continue any kind of case, no story,” he said regarding the accusations. “From my recollection nothing would have caused that, nothing would have caused a miscommunication or anything like that.”

The New University, which has been in contact with Laya, stated that it had received a series of e-mails between the accuser and Cheng in which the student regent “repeatedly apologized to Laya for sexually assaulting her.”

Yet, according to Cheng, investigators had also received copies of the online correspondence. He stated that he had a “complicated relationship” with his accuser that ended in a “messy breakup.”

“The DA and police have all the evidence and the supposed e-mails, and they didn’t file the charges, and they didn’t go to court with it,” he said. “New U printed from a single source, and there’s no evidence behind it.”

Although the police investigation is over, Cheng still awaits the ruling of UCI’s Office of Student Conduct and a review by a UC compliance officer.

On the 26-member Board of Regents, Cheng is the sole student representing some 200,000 individuals enrolled at all UC campuses. As a regent, he must attend six meetings a year and is compensated by having all his tuition and fees waived during his one-year tenure, which began last summer.

A day after the New University published its story, debate over Cheng’s character, power and position in the UC system erupted in the comments section of the campus newspaper’s story. In light of the news, online readers have questioned Cheng’s ability to properly represent UC students.

Cheng is only the second individual from UCI to be appointed student regent.

D’artagnan Scorza, a UCLA graduate who served as student regent from 2008 to 2009, said that he knew Cheng well and believed that he would face close public scrutiny because of his position.

“The expectation of Jesse Cheng is the same as that of any member of the board of regents,” he said.

However, Scorza remained skeptical of the accusations.

“The accusation is what it is, an accusation. It does not seem to be line with his character, otherwise he would not have been appointed to the board,” he added.

Attempts by The Bay Citizen to reach Laya for comment were unsuccessful.

Steve Montiel, a spokesman for University of California President Mark Yudof, stated that the Regents would not take an official position on the matter until the on-going campus investigation was concluded.

“This is a student matter that is being handled by the campus in accord with standard processes covered by student privacy laws,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Bay Citizen. “While there is no indication that any of this has anything to do with Jesse Cheng’s position as a Regent, this matter also is being reviewed by UC’s Senior Vice President–Chief Compliance and Audit Officer.”

According to Montiel, Senior Vice President Sheryl Vacca has been appointed “to ensure that appropriate polices were being followed for a fair investigation,” not to review the allegations against him.

While the UCI campus investigation continues, Cheng gave no indication that he would be stepping down as student regent.

Cheng, an Asian-American studies major, is now worried about the impact the events could have on his life as a UCI student. He said he has not considered what impact the accusations will have on his role as student regent but that he understood that people would question his ability to serve.

“Students will say, “Can he really?” and its fair to wonder about it,” he said.

“I know that I’m innocent, I wouldn’t step down [as student regent] because I’m not guilty,” Cheng said. “Whether I can adequately serve student body, I don’t know. I’m so far out of my league on this one I haven’t even had time to grapple with the questions.”

Stephanie Vatz contributed to this report.