Bianca Torres Murray

Bianca is a proud Mexican-American from Echo Park, Los Angeles. Her ancestors’ grit and determination greatly inspire her. Also, Bianca is a second-year Ethnic Studies major who’s passionate about social justice and community engagement. Specifically, she’s interested in the intersections between race and public policy and how policy impacts peoples’ lives. Bianca has had many experiences working to change policies for the better. As a high schooler, after being denied the opportunity to run for a board seat on her local neighborhood council due to her age, she fought to change her neighborhood council’s by-laws to allow youth to run for office. After years of advocacy work and research, her neighborhood council changed its by-laws, adding a youth seat to their board of governors. During the summer of 2020, Bianca interned for the Los Angeles County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, writing and researching a report regarding the possible implementation of a California Law Enforcement Employee Discipline Act. Also, during the summers of 2018, 2019, and 2021 Bianca interned for Professor Sean Kennedy at Loyola Law School’s(LLS) Center for Juvenile Law and Policy. As an intern, Bianca researched and wrote a report on gangs among sheriff deputies in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department(LASD). Her report was published as materials for LLS’s Guilty By Association conference, a national gang conference. Recently, her research regarding deputy gangs was utilized in the creation of a 2021 LLS report entitled "Fifty Years of ‘Deputy Gangs’ in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department: Identifying Root Causes and Effects to Advocate for Meaningful Reforms." A California Assemblymember took an interest in this 2021 report, and recently, as a result of this, AB-958, which makes all law enforcement agencies in California create a written policy against any officer engaging in a “law enforcement gang,” was passed in the state legislature. Governor Newsom also signed it into law. AB-958 repeatedly cites this 2021 report.

At Cal, Bianca interned for Raíces Recruitment and Retention Center and the Latinx Business Student Association. She is currently a researcher for UC Berkeley Law School’s Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law, the Digital Outreach Director for Sara Hernandez’s campaign for Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees, and an academic professional opportunities associate for ASUC President Chaka Tellem. Also, recently, Bianca’s independent research project was selected by UC Berkeley’s Center for Race and Gender to receive their grant. Bianca is a proud recipient of the Cal Alumni Association’s Leadership Award, the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, the Yale Bassett Award for Community Engagement, and the Hispanas Organized for Political Equality’s Latina Future History Maker Award.