The cream of the crop of student governments convened this weekend at Princeton University at the biannual Ivy Council Conference, passing an affirmative action plan mapping out the support of the affiliated universities for a system that encourages on-campus diversity.
Nearly 50 students attended the conference, including the six from Penn. All Ivy League schools except Harvard University sent representatives to the issue-based discussions and variety of workshops.
The IC's also held internal elections -- Columbia University's Alex Cosmas was elected president, and following in the tradition of Penn predecessor Engineering sophomore Joey Fehrman, Geoffrey Anello, also an Engineering sophomore, will represent the University as IC secretary.
Other agenda items ranged from alumni relations and health services to town-gown relations and alcohol policies.
Outgoing IC President Stella Treas of Dartmouth, said the conference was, as usual, very productive -- she described the forum as "a strong tool for student governments to use, especially when approaching administration and trying to effect change."
She added that this "year has been really successful for [the Ivy Council] in so many ways," with the passing of two major resolutions, financial stability and the commencement of the Ivy League student presidents' round table.
Undergraduate Assembly representative and Wharton sophomore Yelena Gershman served as Penn's head delegate and said the motivation for the event is to encounter "new ideas and try to apply them to your own school."
Gershman added that she plans to bring issues from the IC to the UA, including alumni relations programs, a school-wide community service day, the promotion of sexual health awareness and having a student or recent graduate serve on the University Board of Trustees.
College sophomore Jennifer Choi agreed that the IC has come far in the past year and that the exchange of ideas provides helpful insight -- "I think each of the student governments have parts that are good and things that can change."
From the Nominations and Elections Committee, College freshman Eli Hoffman attended the conference hoping to pick up some suggestions -- though most other Ivies do not have a separate elections branch, he acquired and offered some helpful hints.
As a recent NEC survey discovered, many Penn students cannot identify their student leaders, which might result from branches' internal elections, Hoffman said. If Penn adapted the methods of some other Ivies and let the student body vote on officers, closer ties could result.
Hoffman also noted that Cornell's student leaders run on a more issue-based agenda by associating with specific parties, and Yale leaders are voted in based on locality and in what college house they reside.
The weekend also let student leaders connect with others on more personal levels -- Hoffman said that "in one weekend, it's hard to find out a lot" about other policies and applications at other schools, making solid contacts a good way to follow up on prospective ideas.
