UA gives money to Ivy Council

Following a lengthy debate, the Undergraduate Assembly voted to allocate $200 for UA members to travel to this semester's Ivy Council meeting. Four representatives from the Undergraduate Assembly will be attending the Ivy Council meeting at Dartmouth College this weekend. Ivy Council, is an organization that is represented by all eight of the Ivy League student government institutions, said UA member and Ivy Council co-founder Lance Rogers. The council meets once a semester to discuss ideas that are important to each of the schools. The UA budget committee's original recommendation to the body was to give no money to the council's proposal. UA Treasurer Sabrina Gottlieb, who is a member of the budget committee, said the recommendation was based on the fact that the request was not given to the committee until two hours before the meeting. "We decided to recommend zero because opinion was that it was a budget issue and not a contingency one," said the College sophomore. "They knew about this for a long time, and the contingency is supposed to be for things that are unanticipated." According to UA Chairperson Dan Debicella, who was on last year's budget committee, the reason last year's UA voted down Ivy Council's funding request was because the committee felt that the money would be better spent for student groups or to the Student Activities Council. "It's something that I personally feel that the money is better spent on Penn groups that would directly benefit Penn," said Debicella, who is a Wharton junior. Debicella said, however, that he believes that Ivy Council, although in its beginning stages, "shows huge potential, and I think they will be very active." UA member and Ivy Council representative Laurie Moldawer said she believes the Ivy Council is a student group and that it should have been funded by the UA accordingly. "I think the council is definitely for the University since we're doing it in the interest of the University," said the College sophomore. "$200 is a bargain," said Moldawer, referring to the cost for the group's traveling expenses. Other members believe that Ivy Council is still in its early stages, and that its benefit to the undergraduate community have yet to be proven. "I honestly just have something against it," said UA member Miae Oh. "They haven't done anything constructive even though it's supposed to be for furthering the needs of Penn." "I think Ivy Council is a great idea, but, they haven't concretely produced anything yet," the College junior added. In response to Oh's comments, Rogers said, "that's totally false," and invited Oh and any member "who has any doubts to attend a future Ivy Council meeting." "Issues of higher importance that are passed by Ivy Council representatives will be brought forward to the University community at the UC meeting," he added. While the idea itself is a good one, Debicella warns that Ivy Council should not be taken as something different from what it intends to be -- a forum for Ivy League institutions to exchange and communicate ideas. "It's not a super-student government over individual student governments, and it shouldn't be seen as one," said Debicella.