Fifth UA member leaves seat behind

Yet another Undergraduate Assembly member has left, but the group claims to be forging ahead. Over the weekend, Wharton junior and UA Wharton representative Andrew Gomez announced his official resignation from the UA via an e-mail, which UA secretary Kirsten Grubbs described as being "very respectful." In November, Gomez replaced Wharton senior Joanna Mesh, who quit her position in October as one of four Wharton representatives. According to Grubbs, Gomez has not attended any UA meetings since before winter break, and if Gomez had missed next Sunday's meeting, he would have been officially kicked out. Yesterday, Wharton sophomore Samuel Reeves was invited by the Nominations and Elections Committee to assume the position -- he accepted and will serve on the UA for the remainder of the term. Gomez brought this year's tally of UA vacancies to five -- in addition to Gomez and Mesh, College sophomore Susan Oh, College junior Jamie Berg and College senior Marc Sinoway have left the UA and been replaced since the academic year began. "If in fact [the UA's] greatest weakness is that people for extraneous reasons have to resign, then I think we're in pretty good shape," UA Vice Chairman Ethan Kay said. "Our charge is to enact positive change on this campus, and we've been successful in doing so despite some turnovers." Grubbs, a College junior, said that as secretary and monitor of member attendance, it is difficult to distinguish "people who want to be here and can't show up and those that don't want to be here and don't show up." "I wouldn't say Gomez was among the most active members," UA Chairman and College senior Seth Schreiberg said. "But he was active." Kay said that Gomez "brought so much to our body, and his departure is tragic." "It's sad," Grubbs remarked. "But at the same time, it is important to have people who want to be here, [and] the people who want to be here end up being here." The two newest members, Reeves and College junior Charlie Fuller -- who was added to the roster just last week -- both expressed their commitment. "I have lost time to make up for," Reeves said. "I ran for [UA] last year and got beat out, but I welcome the chance now and am honored to help out." Despite a lack of knowledge of the UA's most current projects, Reeves said he can be "a productive member in terms of effort." Fuller also said that he hopes to see some key goals accomplished, but does not plan to run for a seat on the UA next semester. "I think I'm just going to contribute as much as I can for the rest of this year," Fuller said. UA member Lauren Dooley, a College sophomore, was the first member to replace a member who left this term, so she has witnessed the coming and going of members over the past year. Dooley, like Grubbs, said that she feels that the immense amount of motivation provided by the new members often compensates for the loss of their predecessors. Although Dooley said that the UA is "disappointed to lose people because [they] are a close group, it is not a big ordeal." "I don't think this is negative," she continued, "because in my opinion, we just keep getting stronger and more active... and getting stronger is a product of the new members." "Members of the UA take our body seriously," Dooley added. Grubbs said that she attributes the five losses to the fact that the assembly was heavily weighted with juniors and seniors. "As members get older, the less interest they have in making changes that they won't be around to see."