The Student Activities Council has a new board and big goals for this year.
SAC receives money from the Undergraduate Assembly and exists to recognize, fund and supervise undergraduate activities at Penn. SAC currently recognizes over 190 groups.
Wharton junior Simon Bland was reelected as SAC chairman at Wednesday night's meeting. The election was a formality, as Bland was unopposed.
Bland says that he is very concerned with changing the reputation that SAC has on campus. He says that he "wants to get the word out about what SAC is," and he wants students to feel comfortable bringing their issues to the SAC Executive Committee.
"Any ideas we hear from people, we act upon, but we don't hear many ideas," Bland said.
Bland says that much has been done to change the reputation of SAC, and the groups wants to continue to do more. To illustrate this, the slogan on SAC's new material, as well as on its recently finished Web site, is "We hear you."
SAC's number one priority for this year is "changing the current perception of SAC toward a more 'approachable' organization," according to the group's Web site.
Current SAC Executive Committee member Nico Rodriguez was elected as vice chairman at Wednesday's meeting.
"He has the experience and motivation to work... and he provides a unique perspective to things," Bland said about Rodriguez.
Rodriguez supports Bland in his efforts to create better communication between the SAC Executive Committee and the undergraduate community.
"Getting more discussion within our constituent groups... should be our goal," Rodriguez said.
"It's important that we have an open channel of information," Bland added.
Wharton junior Prateek Sureka, Engineering sophomore Corey Kanon, Engineering junior Kamala Nicholson and Wharton and Engineering junior Jonathan Ozark were elected to the SAC Executive Committee on Oct. 22.
They join College junior Naomi Berkowitz and College senior Steven Boyd, who were elected in the spring, and UA Treasurer and Engineering senior Gautam Mashettiwar.
Each member of the Executive Committee serves as a liaison between SAC and approximately 20 undergraduate groups.
Anyone who has been an officer in a SAC-recognized club since the beginning of this semester is eligible to be on the SAC Executive Committee.
Nicholson, one of the new members, was elected as secretary at Wednesday's meeting.
Members of the new board say they are behind Bland and his goals for reaching out to the student body.
"We need to be proactive with reaching out to the Penn community," Sureka said. "Just showing them that we care about them can go a long way."
