EDITORIAL: UA@Penn

The UA has set up its ownThe UA has set up its ownnewsgroup -- it's the perfectThe UA has set up its ownnewsgroup -- it's the perfectopportunity to have all ourThe UA has set up its ownnewsgroup -- it's the perfectopportunity to have all ourpressing questions answered...The UA has set up its ownnewsgroup -- it's the perfectopportunity to have all ourpressing questions answered...________________________________ We think that this is just great. And we urge everyone to check out upenn.undergraduate-assembly to find out what the UA is all about. With this in mind, we have a few questions of our own that we'd like to throw out there: 1) Why did the UA attempt to shut its constituents out by holding closed meetings? 2) Why were no UA members familiar with the contents of their own constitution -- which clearly prohibits closed meetings? 3) Why aren't UA representatives on Locust Walk answering students' questions -- as was promised last month? 4) Why did eight UA members feel the need to impeach UA chairperson Dan Debicella? 5) Why did those same eight UA members change their mind about the impeachment just a few hours later? 6) Why did those who tried to impeach Debicella for allegedly lying to the student body not share with the rest of us exactly what those lies were? 7) Why were UA office hours discontinued from last semester? 8) Finally -- as one student posted on the newsgroup, amidst deafening silence (only one UA member bothered to respond to students' questions on the newsgroup) -- do any UA members (other than our friend Manny) actually read this? Hutch Hell While students cram into a sweltering Hutchinson Gym -- replete with dirt, dust and a collapsing floor -- free-weight room, the administration is playing games As of September 27, 753 students had signed a petition protesting the current conditions of the free-weight room at Hutchinson Gymnasium. For starters the weight room isn't actually a room -- it's a hallway. The equipment was moved there after the Office of Risk Management realized the floor in the original room could not sustain the weight of assorted barbells and dumbells. The University followed up this great feat of athletic planning by cramming the hall with piles of cardboard and plastic. Now students get to work out amidst columns padded by prehistoric ripped mats held together with duct tape. Because there is little or no air circulation to speak of the air is rife with grime, dust and dirt. It is bad enough students have to put up with these conditions. It is worse that the administration's handling of the problem is similar to that of the Keystone Kops. University President Judith Rodin claims she knew nothing of the problem until she read about it in Tuesday's DP. Recreation Department Director Robert Glascott says otherwise. He contends Rodin -- and countless other administrators -- are well aware of the situation. When asked about this, Rodin stuck to her story. "Maybe [Glascott's Department] informed another president," she said. "This president was never notified." This sort of bumbling would be comical if it weren't so tragic. Now Rodin says she will ask to be briefed by Athletic Director Steve Bilsky as soon as he returns from a convention in Boston. This presumably means that Rodin will talk to Bilsky, Bilsky will talk to Glascott, Glascott will talk back and finally, Bilsky will report to Rodin. While the administration sorts out its channels of communication, we can't help but a notice one interesting coincidence. Glascott estimates that bringing the weight room back to the twentieth century will cost between $100,000 and $180,000 -- money neither his department nor Physical Plant have. Well, guess what University President's inauguration (set for October 21) will cost $180,000 (almost twice what it cost to throw her predecessor's inauguration, even after adjusting for inflation)? We'll give you a hint -- it's not the "other" president.