The Undergraduate Assembly's newest long-term initiative has nothing to do with on-campus housing or dining.
UA members just want to talk to students.
This fall, the UA is focusing on increasing both its accountability and its visibility.
With proposals about roll-call voting and publicizing election results taking center stage this semester, the UA is pushing to increase its legitimacy in the eyes of students.
"How can we do our job to the fullest if the student body ... has no mechanism for input?" UA Chairwoman and College senior Rachel Fersh said.
A more user-friendly Web site, meeting agendas published in advance and a recent guest column in The Daily Pennsylvanian that outlined the UA's agenda for the semester are all meant to stimulate discussion between UA members and the student body.
To cement these efforts, the UA will hold an open forum Sunday at 7 p.m., during which students can voice feedback on the UA's agenda and discuss topics of interest with UA members. The location has yet to be announced but will be published on the group's Web site.
The UA believes that its efforts so far have earned it some recognition.
Fersh said that after her column was published, she received feedback from students on the UA's agenda.
She added that she is hoping for a more positive outcome from the UA's outreach efforts, such as more students attending UA meetings, contacting representatives about agenda items and even proposing project ideas.
So far, no students unaffiliated with student government -- short of freshman UA candidates -- have attended Sunday meetings.
"This year, it's our goal to make sure we're working on things relevant to students' needs," UA Executive Vice Chairman Zack Rosenblum said.
The College senior added that, in addition to increasing recognition, the UA has made internal attempts to improve its accountability.
One result of such efforts is the switch to roll-call voting, which means that the UA will record and publish members' names along with their positions on every vote.
College senior and UA member Dan Cope said that roll call could increase the UA's general legitimacy and could even be crucial for issues that have a small minority of dissenters.
"I can see situations where the UA wouldn't want votes recorded but the public would," Cope said.
The change to roll-call voting plays off of the changes to the UA's newly designed Web site.
Users can click on member profiles to research individual voting records, attendance records and member proposals.
"If you're not familiar with the UA, you can become an expert just by using our site," Rosenblum said.
Fersh said that the combination of voting records with member profiles is a "great tool" that students can use to make election decisions in the spring.
However, Rosenblum added that the UA can only go so far in pushing for involvement; students have to make some effort on their own.
"We ask that people meet us halfway and offer their feedback," Rosenblum said. "Let us know [whether] what we're doing is ... meeting their expectations."
"The more input, the better," Fersh said.
