Anonymous plan would revamp UA

Two years ago, College senior Seth Hamalian came out of the woodwork to become Undergraduate Assembly chairperson, winning a race in which he was considered a dark horse. Now, a week before UA elections, Hamalian has announced that he is involved with the dark horse constitutional reform plan that was kept under wraps until it was placed on the ballot last week. "I had a lot to say," Hamalian said Monday night, adding that "multiple authors" were involved in the formation of the proposed constitution. He said others associated with the second constitution include College seniors Sharon Jindal and Sarah Manning. Before last week, only one plan for constitutional reform was on the ballot -- that authored by College senior and Undergraduate Assembly member Dan Schorr and College junior and Daily Pennsylvanian columnist Mike Nadel. The Schorr-Nadel plan has been discussed within various student forums for several months. But shortly after rumors began flying that another constitutional plan was being drafted in secret, Nominations and Elections Committee representatives announced late last week that students would have the opportunity to vote on another plan as well -- one with no cited author. Hamalian said last night that those involved in writing the constitution did consult many students as they progressed. "Part of the problem is that the writers wanted to be anonymous," he said. "The plan is supposed to stand by itself -- it's not anyone's ego trip." Although College senior Roy Fu, the NEC Chairperson of Elections, said the second plan did not really differ with the UA's current constitution, much of the student government set-up is changed under the second proposal. Like the Schorr-Nadel plan, the new body would be called the Undergraduate Senate. There, however, the similarities end. The Student Committee on Undergraduate Education and the Social Planning and Events Committee would be renamed and considered standing committees of the Senate. Currently, SPEC is not considered a standing committee of the UA. In addition, the four Class Boards would be changed to "constituent programming boards" of SPEC, along with the current SPEC committees. SPEC would have the right to determine "which of those constituent boards shall be maintained." Hamalian said despite difficulties between SPEC and the Class Boards last year, there was no reason to think SPEC would disband any of the Class Boards now because the boards "have done good work." A Senate Coordinating Committee and Budget Committee would also be developed as Senate standing committees. All standing committees would involve Senate members to a greater degree than do current UA standing committees and every Senate member would work in at least one of them. For instance, the Senate's Vice President for Programming would chair SPEC, and the Senate Vice-President for Undergraduate Education would serve as a co-chair of SCUE. "The elected representatives have no clearly defined responsibilities and because of this, they don't accomplish anything," Hamalian said. "The specific branches have very clearly-defined goals and the largest impact on campus, so [they] should involve elected representatives." The Senate would also have the right to revoke NEC appointments. Under the second constitution, the Student Activities Council would be structured quite differently than it is currently. SAC representatives would not have to attend every general meeting, as they do now. Instead, up to 15 SAC boards would be formed based on the type of each activity -- for instance, a "publications board" would be developed for all student magazines. A board's director and budget coordinator would be elected internally. Hamalian said this system would not prevent specific activities' representatives from going to meetings, requesting funding or defending their groups. "The point is to get groups to work in cooperation and to make things run a lot smoother," he said. "Right now, the general meetings are ineffective and often arbitrary in their decisions." The constitution will also allow any SAC group to appeal SAC funding decisions to the Senate. The constitutional reform proposal will be on the ballot, along with the Schorr-Nadel plan and two amendments to the current UA constitution, during the March 28 and 29 elections.