UA and UMC to begin anticipated partnership

In an effort to increase minority awareness and involvement in student politics, the Undergraduate Assembly and the United Minorities Council are embarking on a partnership to co-sponsor events and activities across campus. Following a relatively long period of discussions, the two groups now plan to work cooperatively on some tangible projects like unity service work and diversity discussions. "The UA and the UMC have two distinct problems. The UA is seen as not representing the interest of all students, particularly minority students. Similarly, for the UMC, a lot of people think of us as an organization that concerns only minorities," UMC Chairman and College junior Jerome Byam said. He noted that the effort to co-sponsor activities with the UMC started last year with "symbolic" gestures. "This semester," he said, "we've got to get past the symbolism and do some really substantive things." Currently the UA only has two minority members out of its 25 members. The UA and the UMC executive boards met last Friday to discuss these substantive measures. Among the ones outlined by UA Chairman Michael Silver are a joint effort to initiate diversity discussions during New Student Orientation, an effort to encourage minorities to run for student government, a joint listserv and joint community service projects such as Ivy Corps on April 8. All of the UA and UMC members are also planning on having a meeting next Sunday to continue with the discussions. Byam said the UA would support the UMC's annual "Celebration of Cultures" fair and that he and Silver would co-write a guest column about their joint work for The Daily Pennsylvanian, which will be appearing later this week. He said the UA also plans to help the UMC in its campaign to have University letters that are sent home to parents translated into languages other than English and to aid the effort to increase Native-American student recruitment. Michael Krouse, a UA member and an Engineering sophomore, serves as liaison to the UMC and attends all of the UMC's meetings. He said he hoped to "continue to reinforce [the UA's] relationship [with the UMC]." The UA voted last year in support of the Pan-Asian-American resource center largely because of its involvement with the UMC, according to Krouse. He added that he hoped that more minorities would run for UA positions, which could lead to more being elected. He said the UA hoped to get people from the UMC's constituent groups to run in UA elections. College junior Archana Jayaram, the political chair of the UMC, said, "We do feel it's important that the UA take steps to include the UMC.... We do have a really good dialogue." She also said that UMC Vice-Chair Anita Patel, a College junior, would attend UA meetings regularly.