Three new UA referenda added to election ballot

After the first day of voting on several referenda on reforming student government at the University, three new constitutional proposals have been submitted to the Nominations and Elections Committee, NEC Chairperson Rick Gresh, a College senior, announced last night. The proposals will be placed on the ballot for today's voting. Any student who has already voted will be able to change their vote if they return to a polling place and indicate their desire to do so, Gresh said. Gresh said the proposals were turned in late yesterday afternoon to the NEC office in Houston Hall. College junior Charles Ornstein, executive editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian, is the author of one proposal, according to Gresh. University President Judith Rodin wrote the second, and The Red and Blue Editor-in-Chief Christopher Robbins, a College junior, wrote the third. Ornstein's proposal would abolish the Undergraduate Assembly and all other branches of student government. Instead, the DP would be responsible for student advocacy and funding of student groups. "We already speak for the entire University every day with our editorials," he said. "This way, we'll eliminate the confusing pretense that student government actually represents students." He added that the DP's editorial board has much better ideas for procedures to fund student activities, nominations for University committees and general student advocacy than anyone in student government. "What does [College junior, former Student Activities Council Finance Committee member, current Junior Class Board Vice-President for Corporate Sponsorship and DP columnist Mike] Nadel know about the University that anyone on the editorial board doesn't?" Ornstein asked. Rodin's plan would not dissolve the UA, but would remove all power from it. Under the Rodin proposal, the UA would be a "discussion group" responsible only for talking about issues. "Really, there's no need for the UA to be considered a student advocacy group," she said. "No one in my office pays them any attention. Did you read that Project 2000 thing? I didn't. Under my plan, they wouldn't even be able to issue such a waste of paper." The Rodin proposal, if adopted, would completely abolish the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education. Rodin said SCUE, like the UA, was little more than "a nuisance," and that if it was abolished, the administration could be much more productive. "If we didn't have to worry about all these silly student government organizations all the time, we could get a lot more done," she said. "SCUE has gotten better since that [former SCUE chairperson and Engineering and Wharton senior Matt] Kratter kid left, but it's still pretty annoying." Robbins' proposal would leave most of the current system intact, with one major exception. The Student Activities Council would be completely abolished, current members of its Finance and Steering committees would be expelled from school, and Finance Committee Chairperson and College sophomore David Shapiro and Steering Committee Chairperson and Wharton senior Richard Chow would be summarily executed. "SAC sucks," Robbins said. "It can't do anything right. Why bother keeping it around?" But Chow urged students not to vote for the Robbins plan today. "I don't want to die," he said. "Please do not vote for this plan."