New UA body tackles many issues at first general meeting

The Undergraduate Assembly is back to work.

Sunday night, the new body passed a resolution urging the University to divest from gun manufacturers, elected new budget committee members and amended internal finance policies at their first general meeting.

UA Vice President and College sophomore Gabe Delaney said the meeting’s activity was more than he had seen “in the last two months combined.”

At the meeting, the UA held elections for its budget committee. This committee, which works with the UA Treasurer to draft the student government budget every year, is comprised of two additional representatives. College freshmen and UA representatives Justin Taleisnik and Aidan McConnell, and College sophomore and UA representative Anthony Cruz were the ones nominated for candidacy.

McConnell — who is the editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian’s political blog, The Red and the Blue — and Cruz would go on to win the seats.

The question and answer section of the elections concerned the major topics that have been debated since budget negotiations started in March, like relations with the Student Activities Council and plans to fix some of the problems that came with the implementation of the moratorium last September.

“I think we’re all going to have mostly the same response to this. The biggest problem facing us in the coming year is the moratorium,” Taleisnik said.

The UA also considered political issues.

Penn Democrats President and College sophomore Matt Kalmans co-sponsored a divestment advocacy resolution, entitled the Sandy Hook Principles resolution.

The resolution asks Penn to divest from gun and other armament manufacturers.

UA representative and College sophomore Joyce Kim was the bill’s other sponsor. “This resolution does meet all of the political guidelines we approved, and it’s bipartisan as well,” she said.

Some felt that the resolution marginalized relevant student groups on campus who had not been contacted. “This is a broader issue than just the Republicans assenting, and there are some apolitical groups that could help this debate,” McConnell said.

Others questioned what the resolution did. Kalmans said in response that it was a suggestion to the University, one that other organizations in Philadelphia are already pursuing as urged by Mayor Michael Nutter.

“The economic power here is very strong with the University, since we have such an enormous endowment. The mayor is saying that he would like to see organizations with large sums of money pursue this,” Kalmans said.

The measure ultimately passed with a clear majority.

In other internal affairs, the body considered financial amendments and updates given by UA Treasurer and Wharton junior Tiffany Zhu. Zhu reported that the Board of Trustees had underestimated the rise in the General Fee in students’ cost of attendance for the next year. This meant that student government’s budget would see an extra $4,025 because it is linked to the rise in the General Fee.

Zhu recommended that the extra money be appropriated to SAC. She said, “They’re the ones who will use this the best.” The measure passed unanimously.

The UA also approved an addition to their bylaws that officially allows them to roll over profits from one year to the next.

“Every year, we make a lot of profit from UA shuttle shifts … what’s supposed to happen is that the money rolls over every year, but that’s not in our bylaws,” Zhu said. The new amendment formalizes the process.

Some proposed that the extra profit go to SAC, but as McConnell said, “We probably do actually need to have some flexibility” in the UA’s contingency funding.

The amendment also points out that if the fund becomes too large — greater than $50,000 — the budget committee will meet to discuss transferring money to SAC and will present their recommendation to the general body.

The amendment was approved unanimously.

This was the last general body meeting for the UA this semester. Their official business will resume in the fall.

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