UA to discuss Locust Walk report

Undergraduate Assembly members will release a statement on the diversity on the Walk committee's report Sunday, which some members said will support the philosophy of the 54-page document but will make additional demands. "People feel the ideas in the report are good," UA Steering Committee member You-Lee Kim said yesterday. "The UA will probably be calling for enactment of the recommendations along with others." The Walk committee's report, which President Sheldon Hackney released last month, focused mainly on the behavioral and philosophical standards necessary for a diversified Locust Walk. The committee called for a few concrete changes, such as building student townhouses on the Bookstore site when the Campus Center is built. Some UA members said last night the committee's report describes the present situation well, but does not go far enough in finding solutions for the future. "I think it's a positive first step, but I think the committee should reconvene in the future to evaluate the progress of the University and re-evaluate if what's been recommended is still what should be done," UA Vice Chairperson Ethan Youderian said last night. And UA mamber David Chen called the committee's document a "benign report" that does not say anything about the future. But UA member Jen Berrent said that while she understands the Walk report does not satisfy some groups on campus, she thinks it goes far enough. "I think generally it goes far enough, but I don't think drastic action is needed on the Walk," Berrent said. "For those it was seeking to appease . . . I don't think it satisfies their demands." The Wharton junior said she also thinks it would be beneficial to re-evaluate Locust Walk in a year or two. Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson said last night she is "interested in hearing the feedback" of the UA, but said Hackney "has pretty much affirmed what he will do." Morrisson, who co-chaired the Diversity on the Walk Committee, added that the criticisms of the report she has heard so far echo many ideas the committee reviewed last year. At Sunday's meeting, the UA will also discuss a resolution supporting the University's new Acquaintance Rape and Sexual Violence Policy released this summer. The policy defines acquaintance rape as "any act in which a member of the university community forces another with whom he or she is acquainted to engage in sexual activity against her or his will or without her or his consent." It describes the University's resources for the prevention and investigation of acquaintance rapes and states the sanctions that will be taken against an individual who commits a sexual assault. The policy was re-released in the September 24 issue of the Almanac. Youderian, who will propose the resolution, said he thinks UA members will pass the resolution without too much debate because "it's a very good policy." "The way we look at it and the way [Hackney told us] the administration looks at it, since the UA has proven itself as a representative body of student concerns, we feel that the opinions expressed represent a centrist approach to what the students think," Youderian said.

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