Silver's UA made strides, students say

The UA realized many of its goals for this year, including an increase in minority membership. The executive members of next year's Undergraduate Assembly have big shoes to fill, judging from the positive reviews of their predecessors' accomplishments. When he entered office last spring, UA Chairman Michael Silver, a College senior, outlined two basic goals for the UA: bringing the body to a higher "level" in terms of effectiveness, outreach to students and campus-wide respect; and making the UA a more unified body. This year's UA has achieved many of those goals, embarking on several major initiatives including a financial aid proposal; a petition for outside basketball courts; and an effort to increase minority membership on the UA and improve relations with the United Minorities Council. "The UA has in the past and will continue to make profound impact as long as there's persistence and consensus -- a unified UA can do great things," Silver said. Still, the body has struggled with internal attendance problems over the past year and has had difficulty reaching out to the campus at large. It also has been criticized for being hesitant to support student causes, most notably the Penn Students Against Sweatshops' nine-day sit-in at College Hall. One of the UA's biggest accomplishments was its financial aid proposal -- which exempts students from having to contribute one year of summer earnings to their tuition, enabling them to engage in public service or an unpaid internship. The proposal has received approval from the administration and may go into effect as soon as this summer. "Financial aid has traditionally been an issue the UA has shied away from," Silver said, adding that the issue has often been perceived as one too large for the UA to handle. Another issue the UA tackled was the need for outdoor basketball facilities. UA members collected 1,100 signatures and drafted a proposal to build outdoor basketball courts on campus. The proposal received approval from the administration and a court will be located on top of the parking garage behind the 1920 Commons dining facility as soon as next fall. Provost Robert Barchi, who has worked extensively with the UA on its major projects, lauded the work that the students have done on both proposals, as well as the UA's efforts to improve student life in general. "They have been very helpful as a wise and considerate sounding board -- making me aware of what students' concerns are," Barchi said. "I take their advice very seriously." Barchi added that the two projects "could not have been possible without UA initiative." The UA also tackled major issues with the help of its fellow student organizations. Realizing the lack of diversity on the UA, the body launched a joint collaborative with the United Minorities Council to encourage more minorities to run for the UA. Those efforts resulted in a marked increase in the number of minority students running and being elected to the UA. Next year's UA will have at least seven minority members. "Definitely from the UA standpoint they've made great strides in working with the minority community," said UMC Chairman Jerome Byam. In a joint project with the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education, the UA worked to propose an extension to New Student Orientation. Starting this fall, NSO will be one week long -- three days longer than usual. "The work we've done in conjunction with them was fantastic," said SCUE Chairman Josh Wilkenfeld, a College junior. "I think it's a model of what collaboration should be." But the UA still has a few projects that haven't been fully completed. The Facilities and West Philadelphia committees have been working with Executive Vice President John Fry to try and bring more retail options to campus, including a late-night video store and a 24-hour greasy spoon diner. These plans are still unfulfilled. Another UA initiative this semester was the UA Visions survey, which sought student opinions on the Penn experience. Members are still compiling the results and hope to present them to the administration by the end of the semester.