UA drops rules of order to mtg.

The 1994-1995 Undergraduate Assembly held its first general meeting last night and discussed plans for the end of the semester and for next year. And the UA broke away from tradition by not using parliamentary procedure at all during the meeting. The procedures, adapted from Robert's Rules of Order, were used in the past during almost every meeting to debate topics and approve resolutions. But the UA treated last night's meeting as an "informal" one, not requiring parliamentary procedure. And members of this UA said they plan to have the majority of its meetings run without the official procedures. "We're only going to have formal meetings once a month," UA Chairperson Dan Debicella said after the meeting. "Parliamentary procedure makes people want to grandstand rather than really work on the issues. "Rather than having nebulous debates we are doing work that will affect the students' lives," the Wharton sophomore added. During the meeting, Debicella presented a report on the UA's bullseye campaign, a direct mail solicitation of alumni who could choose a campus organization to which they wanted to give their money. The UA worked with the Office of Development and Alumni Relations in this project, and over 100 alumni contributed to the fund. The General Fund received $2,227, which will go into the UA Contingency Fund this year. The money will eventually be used for a new campus Escort Service route to South Street, Debicella said. "This is a tangible service the student body can use," he said, adding that the money will go towards the payment of a driver. No new Escort vans will be purchased for this project. Five other organizations, including the Student Activities Council and the United Minorities Council, also received "bullseye money." Other issues included the Revlon Center, improvement of Residential Living and the possibility of having smoke-free dining halls. UA member and College sophomore Lance Rogers brought up the idea of the smoke-free areas, saying that the UA would need to find out student opinion before going ahead with anything. Concern about the UA's ability to enforce this concept were also discussed. "Do we have the power to make the head of Dining Services listen to us?" said UA member and College freshman Seth Gribetz. But other UA members said the Dining Services administration would follow through on a UA proposal. "If we make them, they'll take our ideas and implement them," said UA member and College freshman Josh Gottheimer. But UA member and Wharton freshman Manuel Calero mentioned Dining Services Director Bill Canney's rejection last week of a main section of the UA's proposal to make changes in the Dining Services budget. The section suggested that union workers be replaced by work-study students. Calero said he is not sure if Rogers' idea will be accepted by Canney, given his decision on the budget issue.