UA votes against UMC seat

The Undergraduate Assembly clarified its stand on the three-year-old debate over minority student representation Sunday, voting against a resolution to support adding a United Minorities Council seat to the University Council. Fifteen UA members currently sit on Council -- the advisory body to University administrators and University Trustees. If a quorum of members attend, Council plans to vote on the addition of a UMC representative -- a position that existed unofficially and was eliminated over just three years ago -- at its monthly meeting tomorrow. "This is something we've been discussing since I've been on the UA," UA Chairperson Noah Bilenker, a member of the Council Steering Committee, told the body at Sunday's meeting. The College junior intended to spark discussion on the issue before the Council meeting in order to provide the body's 15 representatives with a chance to hear their UA's opinions before voting on the issue Wednesday. While several UA members questioned why the UMC was being singled out as the only group to represent student minorities, UA representative Mike Steib argued that "only good can come out of [adding the UMC seat]." The College senior added that "having someone sitting there who's solely in charge of making sure minority issues are heard" would serve Council well. But Engineering junior Michael Bressler said UMC members should take responsibility for getting their voices heard on Council and the UA, adding that he didn't "see why with a more concerted effort the UMC couldn't get people on [the UA]." Bressler cited the efforts of Greek-affiliated students to get members of their fraternities and sororities elected to the UA last spring as proof that interest groups can successfully get their members elected. But after additional discussion, the body voted down the resolution advocating the UMC seat. Bilenker -- who had opposed drafting an actual resolution on the issue -- assured Council representatives that they do not need to vote according to the resolution Wednesday. "There's no reason to pass a resolution to say that 15 people should vote this way or that way," he explained. UMC Vice Chairperson Vinay Bhawnani, an Engineering junior, stressed in a later interview that his group plans to go to Wednesday's Council meeting to advocate for the seat. "If we don't get the seat, then we will try to get other people on the UA," Bhawnani said, adding that while the UMC has never made a concerted effort to get their members elected to the UA, "that might be a course of action we would take." Prior to spring 1994, the UA unofficially allowed a UMC member to occupy one of its 10 Council seats, complete with voting privileges. But that April, as Council increased UA representation to 15 students, it also decided that the unofficial seat was in violation of Council bylaws stating that only actual UA members may fill the UA's seats. This Wednesday, Council will vote on changing its bylaws to giving the UMC a 16th undergraduate seat. Many past members of both Council and the UA have argued that since the UMC is not an elected body, a UMC representative to Council will not be selected democratically. But Bhawnani insisted that the UMC is a proper representative of the 12 campus minority groups it oversees, adding that the body can "properly voice their opinions." Five of the UA's 35 members missed Sunday night's meeting.