UA, UMC excited by prospects for new cooperation

The UA's plan to increase minority presence was met with enthusiasm. Members of both the United Minorities Council and the Undergraduate Assembly said that a new plan which calls for members of each of the UMC's 12 constituent groups to serve as non-voting members on UA committees will further enhance the good working relationship established between the two groups in recent years. "It's a very positive thing," said UMC Chairperson Chaz Howard, a College senior. "We realized that when more students work together, more things can get done." UA Chairperson and College senior Michael Silver agreed that the new relationship -- which also led to the creation of a new UMC liaison position on the UA -- will benefit both groups. "We don't really have the perspective now that we should [on minority-related issues]," Silver said. The UA currently has only two minority members out of a total of 25 members. "This is definitely something where this is a first step," Silver added. Howard said that each of the UMC's member groups would be encouraged to send representatives to the UA's meetings, including meetings of UA committees at which members of the Penn community are allowed to participate. "We can't mandate our groups to do that," he said, adding that the group leaders he has spoken with have been receptive to the idea of participating on UA committees. When the UA announced the plan this week to work more closely with the UMC, questions were raised regarding the inclusion of two Latino groups -- Asociaci-n Cultural de Estudiantes Latinos Americanos and El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan -- which detached themselves from the UMC in the spring of 1998, citing a lack of political focus. But College senior Leslie Heredia, president of ACELA, said that the Latino Coalition -- an umbrella group for Penn's Latino student groups -- plans to send representatives to the UA in much the same way as the UMC. "We are working in collaboration with the UMC on this effort," Heredia said, noting that the Latino Coalition has been encouraging Latino students to run for seats on the UA. Silver said that while he was unaware that the Latino Coalition would be sending representatives like the UMC, he thought it was likely that the UA would establish similar ties with the Latino group. "That's great news to hear," Silver said. "We're definitely going to invite them to come to our meetings and sit on our committees." College junior James Yoo, vice president of the Korean Students Association, said he has suggested to other members of his group that the KSA create an official position for a UA representative. While Yoo said that his group has not formally met since Tuesday's UA meeting and therefore could not comment for the KSA, he said that he is personally excited about developing stronger ties with the UA, noting that "there is a need for minorities to get involved." In a further indication of the UA's interest in working with the UMC, Howard himself has been given a seat on the UA Steering Committee, an advisory group comprised of the UA's executive board and the leaders of several major student government organizations. Both Howard and Silver said that they would like to see minority students represented more formally on the UA as elected representatives. "People of color in the past have turned out to run" but have not been elected in recent years, Howard said, noting that there have been more minority students on the UA in past years. Silver agreed that the UA lacks ethnic diversity but noted that its new relationship with the UMC is intended to encourage minority students to add a wider range of opinions to the UA's discussions in the immediate future. "The goal is not exclusively to get minorities elected to the UA," Silver said, adding that getting more minority students elected to the UA is "just a step in the process." And Silver hopes that the new plans with the UMC will only be the beginning of a long-term relationship between the two groups. "We hope this perpetuates once we leave," Silver said. "We want this to be sustained."