News Briefs: Monday November 22. 1999

UA approves funding for landlord survey The survey, which is being conducted by the Penn Consumer's Board this year, will begin on Monday, November 29, and will be conducted both online and through hand-written questionnaires. The UA Budget Committee did not approve the consumer board's original $630 request for funding of the survey because it did not receive the request until a day after the deadline. Despite the absence of a recommendation by the Budget Committee, the 23 voting UA members at last night's meeting voted unanimously to suspend the body's by-laws to allow the consumer board's request to come before the UA. A motion to suspend the by-laws requires a two-thirds vote of the UA's 32 voting members. UA Treasurer and Budget Committee Chairperson Michael Bassik, a College junior, said he believed the consumer board's survey deserved immediate funding because of its importance and time-sensitive nature. He did, however, say that the group's $630 request was an excessive amount for conducting a survey. He suggested that the UA provide $430 in funding instead, but his amendment to the budget request failed with 12 members voting against, 10 voting in favor and one abstention. The original $630 request was then passed with 15 members voting in favor and eight voting against. In previous years, the survey had been conducted by the UA's West Philadelphia Committee. Also last night, Asian Pacific Student Coalition chairperson Hoa Duong, a Wharton sophomore, asked for the UA's support in the creation of a new Asian-American resource center. The UA decided to take the issue up at a later date. -- Jeffrey Joseph