In the penultimate Undergraduate Assembly meeting of the year, held on Sunday evening, sustainability was a main focus.
During the open forum, no outside student groups brought forth issues, but several internal issues were discussed.
College sophomore Alec Webley confirmed that renovations on DuBois College House will happen this summer and also announced the recent purchase of a new Web site domain name for the UA - a budget request that was approved at last week's meeting. The new domain is pennua.org, and the new site will be up soon.
During external reports, Nominations and Elections Committee representative Brittany Stark, a College junior, reminded everyone of the upcoming State of the School, when each branch of student government will report on progress made this semester.
Several projects are still in the works, like the NSO Fraternity Safety proposal. In a recent meeting with University administrators, suggestions for late-night NSO events were brought up. Suggestions included holding a carnival and making Freshman Performing Arts Night an NSO event.
New business included two policy updates and two proposals.
The first item discussed was sustainability. Last year, the UA passed a proposal urging Penn's administration to create a comprehensive policy on sustainability.
The University then created the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee, which met two weeks ago to report on its work to date. The UA discussed ways to spread awareness about Penn's progress in sustainability, in addition to improvements ESAC can make.
The next item of business was a proposal to publicize the University's recent acquisition of Zimride software. Zimride is a social technology that allows users to collaborate when driving or taking public transportation.
The system was created to promote sustainability and convenience. It allows students to facilitate ride-sharing. The proposal to publicize and evaluate the program was passed.
The third item of business was the UA Airport Shuttle proposal, which requires UA members to take shifts for selling shuttle tickets and manning the shuttles.
There has been an increasing demand for the shuttles each year, and it is one of the UA's most visible and popular projects.
The final item of business was the high-rise shopping carts policy update. A pilot program will be implemented in Harrison College House at the start of next semester.
Students will be able to check out shopping carts from the front desk, as well as reusable canvas bags - yet another way the UA is promoting sustainability on campus.
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