A 2nd generation Chinese-American, Leland Pan is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After spending time living in Hong Kong, and brief return to Philadelphia, since 2001, Leland has lived in the Madison area and is a graduate of Middleton High School.
An early and active advocate for social justice issues, Leland begin working with the Middleton High School Gay Straight Alliance, pushing for LGBTQ rights within the school. He also a took role on environmental issues, volunteering for the Pheasant Branch Conservancy.
After graduating in 2010, Leland enrolled at the University of Wisconsin Madison, majoring in political science and sociology, taking his lifelong love of music along the way, earning a music scholarship from the UW.
Immediately becoming a leader on diverse array of social justice issues, Leland joined the Student Labor Action Coalition. As a SLAC organizer, Leland worked to mobilize students against Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill and against the privatization of UW affiliated institutions. Leland also worked with the UW to cut their contract with Adidas, over a pattern of labor violations at Adidas’s affiliated production shops, while also working to promote labor-friendly college apparel from “Alta Garcia”.
Continuing on as an organizer around labor issues, Leland is also a member or the Campus Solidarity Committee, which works to promote unity and activism between campus unions, AFSCME Local 171, AFSCME Local 2412, and the TAA-AFT Local 3220. Leland worked with all three unions on opposition to the budget repair bill and the New Badger Partnership.
Leland was elected to the Student Council of the Associated Students of Madison, as a representative for the College of Letters and Sciences. Leland quickly made his presence felt as a member of ASM Legislative Affairs committee. While with Legislative Affairs, Leland lobbied to City of Madison to change the Alcohol Licensing Density Ordinance for greater 18+ venue opportunities in the downtown area and stopping draconian punishments for kegs and house parties in the anti-nuisance laws.
At the state level, Leland worked towards more student representation on the Wisconsin Special Task Force on UW Restructuring and Operational Flexibilities. Leland serves on the Committee on Undergraduate Recruitment, Admissions, and Financial Aid, a shared governance committee with faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students. Their most recent action was to take a stance against the Center for Equal Opportunity’s divisive report on diversity at UW, and to form an ad-hoc committee of faculty and graduates to do a study on admissions.
Other issues Leland has took on include working on collaborating with students from other UW schools, faculty, and staff on the media aspect of the college affordability campaign, as well as lead organizer of ASM’s student employee rights campaign, which aims to strengthen student employee protections and create a living wage policy for student hourly employees. Leland has also worked with the Wisconsin Alliance for Tenant Rights to protect tenant protections from SB107, while also working towards an agreement with local landlords and tenants to maintain protections that will be lost with the passing of SB107.
Leland has also been active around community issues in Madison, working with Student Progressive Dane to lobby county supervisors work towards protecting the human services budget from cuts, and with the Dane County Fighting Poverty Coalition on their Housing is a Human Right initiative.
In his free time, Leland is avid fan of music, especially local band, Youngblood Brass Band. Leland’s hobbies include the Mass Effect video game trilogy, graphic novels, and film, mainly art house and Tarantino.
