UA sees few major successes

The Undergraduate Assembly likes to consider itself the voice of the undergraduate community.

But as the semester winds down, some students on Penn's campus are left wondering where that voice has been this fall.

There has been a lot of statement and proposal writing, a lot of event co-sponsoring and some committee forming. But when it comes to huge accomplishments, the list runs thin.

As the liaison between undergraduates and administrators, the UA is expected to know the concerns of students, to be in touch with how students think and feel about certain issues and then be able to take action that will benefit the students.

But at some points during this semester, they have struggled to fulfill all three of those expectations.

"I'm not sure if they do all of that now," Student Activities Council Chairwoman LaToya Baldwin said. "I'm not sure if this particular body will ever get there, to where they're in tune with the undergraduates. But they're putting things into place to make that a reality for future UA's."

At the UA's final meeting of the semester last week, UA Chairwoman Dana Hork read aloud the group's accomplishments for the semester. Some of the highlights included a successful petition to the University on behalf of performing arts groups for more rehearsal and performance space, an open comment period to receive student feedback on possible ways to restructure campus dining and a statement against the visible ID cards that were briefly being proposed by University administrators in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

And some say that the problem is not with what the UA has or has not accomplished, but with public perception.

"A lot of the things they've dealt with this semester aren't big ticket issues, so we don't hear about them, which may give people the impression that they're inactive," said Lindsey Mathews, a College senior and Student Committee on Undergraduate Education chairwoman. "I think they have done a lot, but it's just not visible."

But Hork says the perception that the UA must accomplish numerous big goals in one semester needs to change. Rather, she said, working on smaller projects is sometimes smarter because that's where the group of leaders can actually have an impact.

"People should not discount the importance of accomplishing small, tangible projects," Hork said. "I think we've done that this semester, and we will continue to do that next semester."

In the past few months, a joint committee between the UA and the graduate students' equivalent body, Graduate and Professional Student Association, was formed to look into graduate student unionization. And HBO came to campus this semester, an accomplishment of the Penn Video Network that would have taken significantly longer to come into reality if last year's UA had not petitioned to bring the premium channel to Penn.

While other student government leaders might not see the committees, proposals and projects in the works as having a huge impact on the student body, they also realize that this UA did not govern during a typical semester. Agendas and goals had to be set aside for a few weeks as the UA members were forced to abandon their usual duties as policy setters, proposal writers and decision makers to assume a new role as caretakers of a sort -- burdened with the responsibility to comfort a student body shaken after Sept. 11.

"They were all just as affected as the rest of us, yet they put their emotions on hold to help us," Nominations and Elections Committee Chairwoman and College senior Anne Hankey said. "People take that for granted. It's understated leadership."

That understated leadership produced Penn Unites, a ceremony held on the one month anniversary of the terrorist attacks to remember the victims and recognize the volunteer efforts on Penn's campus. The ceremony was one of the UA's biggest and most notable accomplishments of the past four months.

"We've experienced a national tragedy and three students have passed away," Hork said. "It's a real test of leadership when you're the representative voice of the student body during such an unfortunate time."

Another hurdle the UA faces is the efficiency of their meetings. Social Planning and Events Committee President and Wharton senior Kevin Meyers said he noticed that the members usually focus on the procedure of the meetings rather than on the issue at hand.

But another problem is one that visibly annoys Hork. Side conversations and a lack of respect for fellow members have become the norm, and have pushed Hork on more than one occasion to pause the meeting to admonish the body with a "Shut up guys" or "Could you just listen to each other?"

"They discuss and discuss and discuss," Baldwin said. "Sometimes I feel that if they took the vote at the very beginning of the discussion, they would come out with the same answer because people don't really listen to one another."

Learning to listen to one another is part of the learning experience of being on the UA, Hork says, and it's something all 33 members are in the process of doing.

The UA has already turned its focus to next semester when they hope to take the student comments on dining and compile a report for the administration in the hope of restructuring dining. They will also be attempting to secure funding for a freshman orientation program to develop leadership skills in the newest members of the Penn community.

But other student government leaders would like to see the UA next semester try to do the most obvious task of its job description -- be representative of the student body.

"They've talked a lot about making themselves relevant to the student body," Hankey said. "I'd like to see them work to make connections with the student body."

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