New Undergraduate Assembly vows to overcome last term's strife

Richard Montgomery High School '94 Rockville, Md. Bogged down by internal squabbling, the University's student government was not able to bring about much significant progress this year. Those who claimed to be striving for change were most often met with apathy -- and in some cases personal attacks -- from other student leaders. But at the year's end, members of the newly elected Undergraduate Assembly, which will serve until April 1996, said they were optimistic this term's problems have been left behind. In the fall, the UA researched and prepared Project 2000, a five-year plan for improving undergraduate life at the University. The plan was published in January. But the new UA has given little indication that it will try to meet the goals contained in Project 2000, and much of the report may never be implemented. Spurred by recurring concerns over representation and integration between the five component bodies of student government, several students submitted drafts of new constitutions in January and February. College senior Dan Schorr, a member of this year's UA, and College junior Mike Nadel were the first to release their reform plan, which would have combined all the functions of student government into a new body dubbed the "Undergraduate Senate." In promoting the proposal, Nadel and Schorr said it would increase student government accountability by putting all power into the hands of elected representatives. But the UA chairperson at the time, Wharton junior Dan Debicella, actively campaigned against the Nadel/Schorr plan. Shortly after the their plan's release, Debicella put forth several plans of his own, all modeled very closely on the current system. Most of the modifications Debicella called for dealt with the way representatives are elected to the body. After months of negotiations, Debicella was unable to reach a consensus with Nadel and Schorr. And unable to put a combined plan on April's election ballot, Debicella submitted an amendment to the current constitution, which would have created geographic districts from which UA members would be elected. And in March, only two weeks before the referenda for constitutional reform would be voted on by undergraduates, another proposal was submitted by anonymous authors. The proposal would have created a new umbrella organization to supervise student government. Debate among the people involved in the reform effort grew heated towards the end of the campaign. Nadel and Schorr alleged malicious campaigning by opponents of their proposal. But when the time came for students to vote on the reform proposals, none of them passed. In order for a referenda to be adopted, 20 percent of undergraduates must vote in the election, which is normally held over the course of two days, and the proposal must win a majority of the votes. Only 13 percent of students voted, and no proposal garnered more than 30 percent of the vote. On the same days that the reform efforts failed, students elected most of the 1995-96 UA. Twenty-five of the body's 33 representatives were chosen in April. The remaining eight will be elected by incoming freshmen in October. College junior Lance Rogers, a four-term UA member, was elected to chair next year's body. Wharton junior Gil Beverly will be the vice-chairperson. College freshman Steve Schorr was elected treasurer, Nursing sophomore Lisa Aspinwall will serve as secretary, and the UA's representative to the University Council Steering Committee will be College freshman Tal Golomb. "I'd like to encourage all students to keep their minds open with the next UA," Rogers said on the night of his election. "They're going to see a lot of changes." The first change was implemented at the new UA's first meeting. The weekly meetings have been held in Houston Hall for years. But Rogers and the new Assembly decided to move them to Chats, the University's new coffee house and late-night gathering place, in order to appear more open to student input. Golomb will supervise a UA task force this summer to keep the body updated on administration actions.