New UA chairman revels in his double life

The consummate politician on the outside, Michael Bassik can be a real slob, his friends say. Many students may not know it, but newly elected Undergraduate Assembly chairman Michael Bassik leads a double life. In public, the College junior serves as a campus leader -- always appearing well groomed, his hair slicked back -- but in private, his friends say he's just a big slob who never does his laundry. His friends call the public persona -- holding high-profile talks with administrators and promoting major student issues -- the "dorky side" of Bassik. But while his friends may mock him, Bassik says he loves every minute of his dorky new job. And in fact, his dorky roots stretch back years to when he served as senior class treasurer in his Long Island high school. "I've always been involved in politics," the Political Science major said. Bassik is co-founder for Penn for Gore and he worked for the presidential candidate personally as a White House intern last summer. "If Gore wins, I hope to take a year off and work for the Democratic party [and go] back to the White House," Bassik said. Like Gore, Bassik has had some rough times during his political career at Penn. A UA member since his freshman year, Bassik ran for UA chairman last year and was devastated when he lost to College senior Michael Silver. After his loss last spring, Bassik said, "When you're hit with a blow like this it changes you inside. I never saw myself not being chair next year." Still, despite his disappointment, he took the job of UA treasurer and ran for chairman again, successfully, this year. That dogged persistence has served Bassik well before. When he applied early decision to the University, he was convinced Penn was the perfect place for him. But Penn wasn't so sure: He got deferred. "Half of [the admissions committee] thought I would do great things -- the other half thought I would burn out," Bassik recalled an admissions officer telling him. So Bassik sought out 18 recommendations from friends, teachers and family to convince that admissions office that he would be an asset to the school. And in the end, his relentless work paid off. After being accepted at Penn, he also was on a first-name basis with an admissions officer as a result of his extensive correspondence with the office. Since his arrival at Penn, Bassik hasn't burned out yet, although he has been constantly busy with student government and other campus organizations, including his fraternity, Zeta Beta Tau. All his efforts are carefully chronicled on his glossy Web site, http://www.michaelbassik.com. "He's always doing stuff --whether it's [organizing an event] or debating at panels as Al Gore," said Silver, the outgoing UA chairman. "I wonder how he does his school work." Just as he juggles many interests now, Bassik was equally overextended in high school -- where he edited the school paper, participated in Model U.N., acted in the school plays and played goalie for the soccer team. "He ran the school," joked College junior Jeremy Beyda, Bassik's roommate and friend since high school, "[and] was even homecoming king." But all his charm and flair will be put to the test when he takes up the job as leader and spokesman for the student body. "It's going to take a lot of work to reach out to the student body," Bassik said, adding that he plans to work hard to find out what students want from the UA. "For every person who votes, there's another one who says, 'The UA does nothing,'" the newly elected chair noted. "[So] we want to know what students are passionate about." As Bassik tries to answer this burning question, students will be able to count on seeing him next year, schmoozing around campus. Of course that's the "dorky" Bassik. When he sheds that role and kicks back at home, his friends claim that the pristine leader becomes one of the messiest people they've ever met. His three roommates all good-heartedly joked that Bassik is, quite frankly, "a slob." Despite the immaculate appearance of his room, his apartment's kitchen was filled with over five full bags of dirty laundry earlier this week. There was so much laundry, in fact, that Bassik had to borrow a clean shirt from his roommate. Bassik said he would hopefully get around to washing his clothes tomorrow or the day after. But, as he will continually be expected to serve the UA and the student body's interests first, the laundry may sit there a while.

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