New UA board elected in March

Glen Rock High School '93 Glen Rock, N.J. The Undergraduate Assembly elected its new body in March, amidst confusion, malfunctions, disheartened old members and hopeful new ones. The previous UA was often divided, especially over issues such as the so-called "speech code" and the Commission on Strengthening the Community's preliminary recommendation to completely randomize housing for freshmen. Towards the end of that body's term, even more difficulties occurred, as it was too divided to vote on the issue of delaying Greek rush until sophomore year, another preliminary recommendation of the Commission. At one meeting, the UA debated the support of an open letter to the Commission denouncing the postponed rush plan. An amendment advocating second semester freshman year rush was made, and the original advocates of the letter withdrew their support. A complicated set of parliamentary procedures, motions, debate and amendments ensued. No vote was taken on the letter and no resolution was made. This meeting, along with several other factors, led to a low number of members seeking re-election -- only 12 of 33. "A lot of people saw the UA as too divided," former UA chairperson and College junior Seth Hamalian said. "They didn't want to put their time and effort into an organization which was distraught with apparent, but not necessarily actual, division." A low number of students declared candidacies for the UA. Only 18 students vied for the 15 spots available to College of Arts and Sciences students, and nine candidates ran for six UA positions from the Wharton School of Business. No Nursing School students ran for the one position available and two candidates from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences ran for three openings. But students conducted write-in campaigns before the election, and both vacant positions were filled. During the elections themselves, the Nominations and Elections Committee, which controls the UA elections, several problems occurred at various polling locations. Computers used to check the eligibility of voters shut down frequently, and walkie-talkies used by NEC members to communicate malfunctioned. Cold weather was cited as the main reason for the technological difficulties by NEC Elections Chairperson and Engineering junior Jim Strangio. Many problems were corrected during the second day of voting. After election results were announced, the 25 new UA members expressed hope for change in the upcoming year. And during the annual transition meeting to elect the new steering board, candidates for almost every position said they wanted to stop unnecessary debating and start taking concrete action. At that meeting, Wharton sophomore Dan Debicella was elected UA chairperson and College sophomore Tamara Dubowitz was elected as vice-chairperson. Eight positions on the UA are saved for freshmen. The members are selected during freshmen elections in early October each year.