Student leaders meet to plan SAC reforms

A complete overhaul of the Student Activities Council's bylaws may be underway in the wake of the group's decision to deny funding to The Red and Blue Monday night. Several members of SAC and the Undergraduate Assembly -- as well as students interested in reforming student government at the University -- met last night to discuss the ongoing controversy, according to UA representative and SAC Steering Committee member Eric Tienou, a College junior. Tienou, who called the meeting, brought together leaders of the Performing Arts Council and the United Minorities Council -- two umbrella organizations that are extremely influential voting blocs in SAC -- and other SAC groups for what started out as "damage control," he said. But the group quickly realized that the damage was beyond control, and began to formulate a new means for SAC to fund and recognize its member organizations. Former SAC Finance Committee member and Daily Pennsylvanian columnist Mike Nadel, a College junior, said the group came very close to "radically changing the way SAC functions" in a proposed constitution for student government at the University that he and UA member Dan Schorr, a College senior, have been working on for months. "We decided not to [do so] because it would be impossible to change if there were holes," he said. Instead, PAC Chairperson Pat Ede, an Engineering and Wharton senior, and PennWatch President Jonathan Brightbill, a Wharton sophomore, will write a new set of bylaws governing the funding process for SAC groups, Brightbill said. But he added that the group doubts the bylaws will be adopted by SAC once they are written. "I think everyone on campus is recognizing the need for reform," he said. "But I doubt SAC recognizes the need for itself to be reformed." Brightbill joined the growing chorus of student leaders on campus calling for a total overhaul of the structure of the University's student government. "It needs to be done," he said. "SAC doesn't function because its members don't want to be there. The UA has no purpose -- it's like a line item on people's rZsumZs. We need checks and balances just like in the [U.S.] Constitution." Tienou said he called The Red and Blue Editor-in-Chief Christopher Robbins, a College junior, to invite him to the meeting, but Robbins declined to attend. Daily Pennsylvanian Staff Writer Jeremy Kahn contributed to this article.