With no new business at its second meeting of the semester, the Undergraduate Assembly held a check-in with committee heads to settle affairs before the semester becomes too hectic.
College sophomore and UA Representative Grant Dubler did, however, bring up a timely housing issue, since deadlines for on-campus housing applications have begun to loom.
He said housing deadlines have been unclear since some College Houses neglected to post the deadlines and other houses changed them after they were posted.
"They have confused a lot of people," he said.
Dubler also pointed out several problems that earlier deadlines pose, such as conflicts faced by those waiting on acceptance to study abroad programs or living in sorority or fraternity housing.
In reply to Dubler's concerns, College sophomore and UA representative Alec Webley illuminated several of the necessarily evils of the process, such as the fact that every house must control its own internal applications prior to any inter-house submissions.
With this concern on its radar, the UA planned to address the problem and work with Housing and Conference Services to see what could be done. This work follows the UA's current initiative to extend the move-out date for students taking exams late during finals period.
Another upcoming issue the UA addressed is working with the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education and the administration to move toward posting syllabi online.
According to UA Academic Affairs chairman and College sophomore Matt Amalfitano, Provost Ron Daniels has ordered a revamp of the online course detail page, as well as the entire Penn InTouch system.
Daniels has urged professors to post current and past syllabi to these existing pages.
Amalfitano also expressed a need to publicize the recently published but largely unknown "Penn Book" on academic integrity. According to Amalfitano, this "one stop shopping for purgery issues, use of outside sources and stuff like that" would be an invaluable resource if promoted to students.
Other issues addressed by individual committees include
Forming a steering group to coordinate alternative late-night event programming for NSO and to determine the amount of resources required
Examining current library protocol to explore more efficient methods to perform bag checks
Drafting University admission and financial aid materials in different languages for prospective parents
Conducting a survey of the entire student body regarding textbook purchasing habits to explore new ways of reducing textbook costs
Improving and updating the UA Web site to maintain its relevancy and utility.
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