The Minnesota State Legislature will elect four new University of Minnesota Board of Regents this spring to fill the four open seats — one student at-large, two statewide at-large and one fifth district seat. 

Flora Yang and Dylan Young are running for the open student-at-large seat, which will be filled sometime before June. 

The Regent Candidate Advisory Committee interviewed 22 candidates for all four open Board seats and released their recommendations for 12 candidates in January. They recommended four candidates for the student-at-large seat, but one candidate dropped out of the race and another, Kowsar Mohamed, switched to running for the Fifth District seat.

Yang and Young talked to the Minnesota Daily about why they are running for the student-at-large seat. 

Flora Yang

Yang has been actively involved in student government for the last five years. For the 2022-23 academic year, she was the Undergraduate Student Body President, and she helped raise the student on-campus minimum wage to $15 and implement the Universal Transit Pass during her tenure. 

“Drawing on my breadth of campus leadership roles, I have cultivated deep institutional knowledge and strong relationships with students,” Yang said. 

Yang started at the University 10 years ago, studying human physiology and earned her bachelor’s degree in 2023 before starting medical school. Currently, she is a second-year medical student at the University. 

The Undergraduate Student Government endorsed Yang for the student-at-large seat.

Two years ago, she ran for the statewide at-large seat, but did not win the spot. 

Yang said she wants to focus on three major goals — meeting students’ basic needs, keeping college affordable and strengthening campus safety. 

“By fostering respectful, transparent engagement,” Yang said in a statement emailed to the Daily. “I will ensure that students’ well‐being, affordability, and safety remain at the heart of every decision our University makes.” 

Yang said two-way dialogue between the Regents and the University community is a cornerstone of her plan. She wants the Board to regularly engage with the community. 

Over the last several months, Yang has consulted with student leaders and faculty governance from each of the five campuses and key state legislators to learn about what they want from the Board. 

Yang said she wants more public comment periods during Board meetings to make sure more voices are included in important decisions. 

“Consistent, meaningful dialogue is at the heart of my approach,” Yang said. “By meeting students, faculty and staff where they are, I aim to build genuine partnerships that ensure all voices contribute to shaping our University’s future.”

Yang said the unpredictable future of federal funding for public universities is a big concern for her, and is looking at different ways of funding, including expanding donations and private funding. 

“By combining donor‐aligned funding, disciplined cost management, and proactive enrollment innovation, we can preserve academic excellence without asking students to shoulder ever‐rising tuition bills,” Yang said. 

Dylan Young

Young is a peer mentor to first-generation students and the former student body president for the University Morris campus, where he earned his undergraduate degree in political science and English. 

Growing up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Young attended Morris because of the Native American tuition waiver. He came to the Twin Cities campus to earn his master’s in public policy in higher education at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs last year.

“Those two experiences really ignited my passion for higher education policy, especially public higher education,” Young said. “My family has always understood it as a tool for upward mobility, and my own personal experience as a student affirmed that.”

The University Council of Graduate Students and the Graduate Student Labor Union endorsed Young’s candidacy. He was endorsed by the Undergraduate Student Government as well.

Young said he wants to focus on “equipping all students, regardless of background, with the skills necessary to tackle our community’s greatest challenges.”

Young said one of his major priorities would be working to lower the cost of tuition. 

“I think that college affordability is the number one thing people would like to see from us,” Young said. “Another thing that I want to champion as a member of the Board of Regents is ensuring that we’re doing what we can to avoid raising tuition every year.”

Young said he wants to change the Board’s current approach to public engagement and increase opportunities for public comment during meetings. 

Prior to submitting his application, he went to each of the five campuses to meet with students, staff and faculty. 

“I made sure to go out and talk to students, staff and faculty at each of the five you at campuses to just sit down with them and openly and honestly look them in the eyes and say, ‘What can I do for you as a Regent?’” Young said. 

Young wants the Board to take decisive action to ease students’ anxieties regarding threats to free speech and protest, the DEI initiative cuts and international student safety. 

Young said the University needs to protect the communities it serves. 

“We’re really at a point where, as leaders of colleges, we have three options,” Young said. “We either surrender, we can negotiate or we can fight. I really want to be firm about this, so you could mark me down in the fight column.”