To the Editor: I cannot speak for the whole Undergraduate Assembly, but let me be the first to enlighten Brian Cope ("UA should reach out to hear more students' voices," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 11/13/00) about the breadth of options available to get involved with the UA, since he doesn't seem to have taken the time to investigate on his own. "Only one of the six branches of student government is elected by and for students," Cope writes, but he is wrong: Class boards are elected by the individual classes, SPEC is open to anyone and SCUE and the NEC are open by application. To write that the UA is the only representative body is misleading and incorrect. He also writes "the UA must maintain open dialogue with the students it serves. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case." While the UA certainly struggles to get its name out as the voice of the student body, we do make efforts through UA on the Walk and the upcoming newsletter. UA members also attend various club meetings to find out what different groups are doing and how we may be able to help them. Of course, Brian would have known all this if he had contacted any of us using the e-mail addresses on the UA Web site. We don't "disappear into the night," as he suggests, as our meetings are open to anyone, and we are as easy to contact as any other community member. In regards to his comment about our access to the student listserv, the UA is not supposed to blitz students with e-mail. That's why we created a separate listserv open to anyone interested, and we have hundreds of subscribers. The UA is not perfect, and no one would argue that we have the full support of the student body, or even that everyone knows what we do. But there are plenty of avenues open to Brian or anyone else who wants to join our efforts. So Brian, in your next column, I hope you will take some time to learn more about your topic. You may be able to convince some readers with your cynicism and unfounded assertions, but you should have looked more closely at the UA and not rushed to such an ignorant judgment. I think you could easily have written a better-informed column about the problems we have reminding the rest of the students that we exist for everyone.
Seth Schreiberg College '03
Publicize Biopond plans
To the Editor: When reading Associate Dean David Balamuth's letter ("Protecting the Biopond," DP, 11/9/00), I couldn't believe what I was reading. Building on top of a garden doesn't hurt it? That comes as a surprise. After enduring years of encroachment onto the once vast area that made up the Biopond Garden, once again its peacefulness and size is threatened by the proposed building of a five-story life sciences building. The proposed site is somewhere on the outside edge of the bluestone path which runs through the garden. This area includes a mature American elm, as well as the Mudd Building (constructed in the 1980s) and Kaplan wing (constructed in the 1960s). These decades-old buildings are slated to be torn down in order to accommodate the new building. Does this mean that in another 30 years the life sciences building will be torn down in order to put up a newer building? I propose that Balamuth, chairman of the building committee, allow the DP to publish his plans for the Biopond. That way everyone could see for themselves exactly how much of the garden will be developed.Emily Quesada College '03
Insert foot in mouth
To the Editor: On Election Day, I was working on a paper in the Harrison College House computer lab after having voted. While I was working, I overheard a student nearby telling his companions, "I'm not voting at all. Why bother? My vote doesn't count." I wonder if he's rethinking his position.Patty Quinn CGS '01
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