UA attendance hits record low

For the first time this decade, the Undergraduate Assembly failed to achieve a quorum at its meeting last night and was forced to hold an unofficial session. More than half of the UA must be present for quorum. Furious, UA Chairperson and Wharton junior Dan Debicella lashed out at his political opponents last night, claiming the lack of quorum was not an issue, and was the result of "an effort to bring down the UA." "A lot of people throughout the year have been opposed to what this UA is doing," he said. "Since they can't pick on us for not doing anything, they're going to pick on us for petty things. It's accomplishments, not attendance." In order for UA meetings to be official, there must be 17 of 33 members in attendance, according to the UA Constitution. Without quorum, no official action can be taken by the body. When the meeting began at 9 p.m. last night, only 13 members were present. Quorum was reached briefly after 30 minutes. But it broke down again when Engineering junior and UA member Sundeep Goel left. Five minutes after Goel left, College junior Mike Nadel, a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist and Goel's roommate, brought Goel's jacket to him in the basement of Houston Hall. Goel did not return and there was no quorum for the remainder of the meeting. "Mike Nadel told Sundeep to leave so that we'd break quorum and they could point to this politically and say, 'Oh, look, the UA can't even get quorum,' " Debicella said. "Actually, we had quorum and it broke because Mike told his roommate to leave." Nadel, along with UA member and College senior Dan Schorr, has been active in recent efforts to reform student government at the University. Two weeks ago, he resigned from his position on the Student Activities Council's Finance Committee amidst threats of impeachment. After last night's meeting, Goel said he left because he felt sick. "I think I ate something funny today," he said. "I was planning on coming back, but there was just no way." Nadel denied that Goel's sudden departure was part of a pre-arranged effort to break down quorum. "He was really not feeling well," he said. "If members had wanted to break down quorum, they could have done so just by leaving the meeting themselves." But Debicella said he thought there was a movement among some members of the UA to sabotage his administration by breaking quorum and by drawing attention to attendance problems. "There are people who just don't like me or don't like what we've done, and they've quit," he said. He refused to name the specific UA members who have been trying to break quorum. But he said Nadel was responsible for leading those efforts. "It's obvious that Mike Nadel is trying to reform student government to his own advantage," he said. Schorr denied that there was any conspiracy behind the lack of attendance at recent UA meetings. UA representative and College junior Lance Rogers said he questioned why there was never a roll call or an announcement about the lack of quorum. Debicella said that there was no need for such an announcement, as no formal business was conducted at the meeting. Several UA members who were not present at last night's meeting said they had no knowledge of any plot to sabotage the meeting. "I was sick," College junior Eric Tienou said. "I apologize for not being there. I don't think there's a conspiracy to break down the UA by breaking down quorum. If something's going on, it's going on without me." Wharton freshman Alan Danzig, also a UA representative, said he missed the meeting because he had been studying all weekend for a Finance midterm.

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