UA puts off votes on Trammell Crow plan, meal redemptions

Members of the Undergraduate Assembly Executive Board hoped to leave Sunday's meeting with a consensus on campus issues ranging from the Trammell Crow outsourcing to a proposal to reinstate meal redemptions. But the body did not comply, voting to table the motions until they could deliberate over the language of each proposal next week. The meeting began with UA Chairperson Noah Bilenker urging the assembly to "try to get our voices into a lot more things that are going on" and to pass an official motion asking University officials to delay their presentation of the Trammell Crow deal to the University Board of Trustees. Trustees are meeting November 6 and 7 to discuss the recent decision to outsource management of all University buildings. The proposed outsourcing resolution -- based on a similar statement drafted by the Graduate and Professional Students Assembly -- is a reaction to what Bilenker, a College junior, described as a "surprise announcement" by the administration two weeks ago. He explained that undergraduates were not consulted before the announcement, and that focus groups to discuss the deal were created only "after the fact." Bilenker said that he hopes the proposed resolution would permit the UA opportunity to voice its concerns about the plan. And he added that he would like to see a committee or task force set up to address the issue of "lack of consultation" for the future. But several UA members came out against making such an "aggressive" statement against the administration. UA member and Wharton senior Charley Margosian said the choice over who runs the campus shouldn't be a student government decision. The UA voted to withdraw the issue until its next meeting, so that the body can tone down the resolution's language and send a copy over its internal listserv. "I'm confident that something is going to pass next week," Bilenker said. "I think everyone's going to have a chance to input on it, and it will be a true UA resolution instead of a resolution that I kind of slap together." Also at the meeting, UA Vice Chairperson Samara Barend, a College junior, introduced a motion urging the University to implement a meal redemption plan at Chats and the McClelland Marketplace. The second proposal presented to the body for approval asked Dining Services' management to consider returning to a program that would reimburse meal plan participants for every meal they miss. Last year, students were able to substitute missed meals with food from McClelland Marketplace. But that system was replaced this year with a program giving students 53 dining dollars on their PennCard which they could use at Chats or McClelland Marketplace. Several UA members argued that students with large meal plans are harmed by this system because they receive the same number of dining dollars as students with smaller plans. "I was hoping to have at least what we had last year, but extend it to Chats as well," Barend -- who co-authored the proposal -- explained. UA member and College senior Mike Steib motioned to hold off on voting for the proposal until it is distributed to every member over e-mail to read more carefully. The body agreed and tabled discussing the proposal until next Sunday's meeting. Thirty-two out of the UA's 33 members were present at Sunday's meetingƒ including the eight new freshman representatives elected last week