EDITORIAL: A seating chart for UA meetings

The Undergraduate Assembly's credibility is undermined by the lack of attendance at meetings. College sophomore Carter Byrnes, Engineering sophomore Hadley Harris, Engineering junior John Seitz, Wharton sophomore Neil Sikder and College junior Mike Steib left the transition meeting after voting for chairperson. And Wharton sophomore Roger Da Silva and Wharton freshman Dan Kryzanowski didn't even bother showing up for the meeting in the first place. Because of those who left the meeting, the UA was forced to suspend its bylaws when it became apparent that none of the candidates for vice chairperson would get the necessary 13 votes to win. If the UA is having trouble getting its members to come to the first meeting, what will the attendance be like at following meetings? As a result of the controversy surrounding the elections, this UA may have to work harder than its predecessors to prove its credibility to administrators. And with several members leaving halfway through the first meeting, is not a step in the right direction. If Noah Bilenker, the newly elected chairperson, wants to raise the respectability of the UA, he is going to have encourage members to take meetings seriously. Member absences have been problematic in the past. Of the 33 members in last year's UA, 17 missed at least 20 percent of the meetings. The UA's effectiveness was hurt by the lack of attendance. Decisions on several key issues could have been reversed if members showed up to vote at meetings. While it is unrealistic to expect the UA to have perfect attendance at every meeting, it is not too much to ask that our representatives take the time to go to meetings and be informed about the issues facing students.