Jiayu Fang is a senior majoring in Sociology. She was born in China and moved to the U.S. with her mother and younger sister in 2017, after which she assumed the role of family translator and learned to navigate a foreign system with a language barrier. Hoping to get involved with local communities, she started to do volunteer work and found her passion in public services. Due to the experience of herself and those around her, she is particularly interested in issues related to mental health, children’s rights, gender and sexuality, and immigration. Jiayu has been part of the Chief Legal Office since 2020 Fall when she first transferred to Berkeley and is currently a Senior Associate there, working on projects that improve the ASUC’s institutional structure and protect student staff’s rights. In the past summer, she interned at the San Francisco Superior Court’s Self-Help Center to help self-represented litigants navigate the legal system. With these experiences, she wants to continue working on enabling better access for marginalized communities to justice and other rights. At the Democracy Camp, she hopes to meet people working towards the same goal, develop a supportive network and mentors and peers, and improve her abilities to connect underserved people to the resources they need.
Major(s): Sociology