EDITORIAL: The right stuff

After interviewing the candidates, we've got some ideas about what we'd like to see in a UA chairperson. College junior Samara Barend, College sophomore Bill Conway and College junior Jeremy Katz have announced their candidacy for UA chairperson, each offering a different vision of the post which connects 9,000 undergraduates to the administration. The assembly must decide between them tonight at its annual transition meeting. We urge UA members to look beyond the candidates' various affiliations and vote for them as individuals. While traditionally The Daily Pennsylvanian does not endorse candidates, after interviewing Barend, Conway and Katz, we feel we have a pretty good idea of what kind of chairperson each would make. Barend's strongest asset is her experience. She is the outgoing vice chairperson and will be serving her fourth year on the UA. Barend, a DP columnist, rightly admits that the executive board -- of which she was a member -- did not work well this past year. But she believes the body could be more effective if it had better connection to administrators and collaborated in deciding which projects to tackle. We liked that Conway, last year's UA treasurer, included academics as a priority in his agenda. As a third-year UA member, an outgoing member of the Student Activities Council executive board and a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity brother, he would bring a varied background to the post. Conway wants to offer more guidance to incoming members in order to ease the transition process and provide greater direction. Katz, a representative last year, seems like he would make an aggresive chairperson. He wants to make the UA more proactive than it has been in the past, by working toward specific goals and letting the UA's actions "speak for themselves." Katz also thinks the UA should come down harder on members who violate the three-strikes-you're-out attendance policy -- an odd stance since he's missed several UA and University Council meetings in the past. We didn't feel that any of the candidates has a satisfactory plan for seeking out student opinion. With 16 Greek-affiliated members out of a total 25, the body is going to have to work hard to counter stereotypes and be especially attentive to the interests of the student body. Co-sponsoring more events with other student groups is a good idea, but it won't enable the UA to keep its finger on the pulse of campus. In order for administrators to take the body seriously, the UA must present concrete evidence of opinion in the form of polls. When this has been done in the past, with dining and recreation, we have seen actual results. A late-night diner and a High Rise South weight room are both slated to open this fall as a result of UA initiatives. Additionally, the UA must commit to having regular meetings with student leaders. The position of UA chairperson is a difficult role to fill. An effective chair can mean the difference between amorphous promises and tangible results. Choose the new chairperson carefully.