Latino Coalition asks for UC seat

No controversial issue comes with an easy resolution. And while an easy resolution has yet to present itself in the case of the Latino Coalition's request for a seat on University Council, action is being taken on the group's behalf. The request remains under consideration and recently landed in the hands of the Undergraduate Assembly, which is now creating a proposal to possibly relinquish some of the UA seats to other groups. A few months ago, the Latino Coalition -- which currently lacks representation at Council since its withdrawal from the United Minorities Council -- asked for a Council seat. Council is considered the highest decision making body on campus. UA members said that the proposal would likely be complete in about a month. But the Latino Coalition remains uncertain about how effective the UA will be in designing a solution to its request. "We talked about it and we think that the proposal is a good place to start working with the UA, but it doesn't meet our [goal] -- to get a [permanent] seat on the UC," said College senior and Latino Coalition spokesman Randy Quezada. A similar situation arose four years ago when the United Minorities Council -- to which the Latino Coalition once belonged -- lobbied for its own Council seat. Since the UMC, the umbrella group for minority organizations on campus, represents fourteen minority groups, the group was successful in lobbying for a seat on Council. Now the Latino Coalition -- which split from the UMC due to differing political views -- wants its own permanent Council seat. The group argues that they are not currently represented in Council now that they are not a part of the UMC. "We're definitely going to continue pursuing getting our own seat," Quezada said. Those who oppose the Latino Coalition's request believe that allowing the coalition a seat will open the proverbial floodgates, according to UA Chair Michael Bassik. Approving the request means that any other group on campus would have just as much right to a Council seat, he explained, and Council might be overwhelmed with requests. The Council Steering Committee asked the UA to create and present a proposal on how it should respond to the Latino Coalition's request. The proposal will suggest that the UA give up some of its Council seats, which will then be earmarked as temporary seats for which any Penn student group can apply. Any applicant group must be "a group that is underrepresented on [Council and] that deals with policy issues on campus" to apply. The UA has decided to form a committee that will look into altering its constitution. The committee, chaired by Council steering representative Jonathan Glick, will work on modifying the body's constitution so that some of the UA's seats might be transformed into temporary seats for other groups. "The goal of the committee is really to analyze and reevaluate the UA constitution," Glick said. "One of the major issues in that is the [Council] applications." The UA currently holds 15 seats on Council and is willing to give up "maybe three" of these seats to other groups, according to Bassik. But the committee is still exploring different options for dividing up its Council seats. "We're hoping that this is something that the Latino Coalition as well as the student body will support," Bassik added. According to Bassik, the UA also plans to ask the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly to give up some of its Council seats, as some Latino Coalition members are part of GAPSA. And though he had his doubts, Quezada did express the belief that the UA proposal is a step in the right direction. "There's some problems with the proposal, but it's not unworkable, and we're looking forward to working with the UA on this," Quezada said.