SAC chairman elected for next year

The executive committee of the Student Activities Council elected Wharton and Engineering junior Eric Van Nostrand as their new chairman earlier this month.

SAC is responsible for dispersing funds to the over 200 student groups on campus and serves as a liaison between student groups and the University administration.

Nostrand, who defeated one other candidate for the position, sat down with The Daily Pennsylvanian last night to discuss how he plans to increase SAC's visibility on campus while reducing the student groups' debt.

The Daily Pennsylvanian: What are your goals for the year?

Eric Van Nostrand: Something I've discussed with the board a lot . is that in recent years, we focused a little too much on the funding.

We haven't done the best job we really can and should be doing in being the first line of defense for student groups, such as when they have internal . or external disputes.

DP: How does SAC work with other student government groups?

EVN: We receive our funding directly from the Undergraduate Assembly each year as part of their annual allocation process.

We work with the other branches on an ad hoc basis when they have issues regarding student groups that we can help them with.

DP: How do you plan on continuing to reduce the debt of student groups?

EVN: That initiative is actually going very well. All the most indebted groups have submitted plans to reduce their debts, and all that happens now is to watch them do it.

We're very excited about the ambition and the understanding of the problem that groups have shown.

DP: How do you plan on expanding SAC's visibility on campus?

EVN: All SAC reps on campus are required to attend our general-body meetings, which unfortunately in the past . [were] often perceived as, to be quite honest, a little boring.

We want to do our best to get student-group leaders involved in the process by keeping them more apprised of what's going on so they can feel a little more invested in what we do in those meetings.

DP: Are you working with any new student groups this year?

EVN: Yes, we've had several new student groups that are just being recognized, and there are new groups that become recognized over time on a pretty regular basis.

We just recognized a very unique new group, the Undergraduate Society of Magic and Magicians, which we're very excited about joining SAC.

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