Poll: Students know little about UA

The Undergraduate Assembly might be liked by some and disliked by others, but a recent survey indicates many students simply don't care. A recent poll of 377 University undergraduates, sponsored by The Daily Pennsylvanian and The Vision, showed that 38 percent of students had no opinion or had not heard of the UA. At the same time, 26 percent of those polled said they had a favorable opinion of the bodyE– a figure very close to the 27 percent turn out rate for UA elections – while 36 percent said they had unfavorable opinions of the UA. UA leaders last week said they are "happy" with the results. "You have to be happy that 26 percent think the UA is doing a good job – I'm actually surprised, considering the obstacles we've been running into," said UA Vice Chairperson Scott Sher. "I'm glad they recognize we're doing as much as we can with the limited availability of resources that we have." UA Chairperson Seth Hamalian echoed Sher's response. "Considering the general skepticism we've encountered in the past, I think it is a positive indicator that what we're doing is improving in the eyes of student, but I also take it as a challenge to do better," he said. Neither Hamalian nor Sher said they were surprised that so many students don't really care about the UA. "Ideally, I'd like to have 100 percent who know or care about the UA," Sher said. "Because of circumstances beyond our control, we can't do that. But I'm happy the number who have an opinion is over 60 percent – it's a sign we're trying to reach out to more students on campus. "A lot of people just aren't interested in student government," he said. "I think a lot of [the reason people don't care or are dissatisfied] is the tendency to rag on student government, but I wouldn't discount people's opinions." The poll also indicated that 93 percent of students were satisfied with the University as a whole. Hamalian said he was a little surprised that the satisfaction rate was so high. "It comes as a little bit of a surprise, only because it seems that there's been so much dissatisfaction with the way things work," he said. "It could be that they see the UA playing a role in making this a more positive university," the UA chairperson added.

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