Wednesday night, the United Minorities Council elected Wharton and Nursing junior G.J. Melendez-Torres the new chairman and College junior Jacqueline Chaudhry vice chairwoman.
The two have expressed plans to focus on unity within the UMC for the year.
The Daily Pennsylvanian: Why did you run for these positions?
G.J. Melendez-Torres: [What] inspired me to run was seeing a lot of the work that had been done on the UMC this year … and coming to the realization that even though we had done all this work it was really an attempt to fit all the pieces together [and] integrate the three roles of UMC: the internal groups part, the political part and the programming part.
Jacqueline Chaudhry: I have been a part of the UMC for three years. I started out as a liaison from the Black Student League and then I was Programming Tri-Chair and then Political Chair, so [I was] working with so many different organizations and really getting to know them and understanding how important their issues were. Even more than that, I just felt like every year the UMC makes sure that minority resources continue to be on this campus, and I want to make sure that I was one of the people that continue to push for those.
DP: In what direction would you like to take the UMC this year?
GJMT: The direction I want to take the UMC in this year is one of integration. It’s one of fitting the pieces together, … pulling together the political activism ... with the events [and] the richness and the breadth and the depth of our 23 constituent groups, which is so substantial and so solid — pulling these three things together is the next and the most important thing that we need to do, with the internal and the external.
DP: What issues is the UMC looking to address this year?
MT: The issue of Native American students and their admission and their retention and their recruitment. That was an issue that I worked with Brian Kroener, the outgoing vice chair, and Six Directions to bring to the [Undergraduate Assembly]. … The issue came out of a UMC discussion. I think continuing to interface, to use our social capital and to use the relationships we have with student government groups, both on a personal and collegiate level, to advance that cause will be a very important thing.
JC: We’ll also be continuing two causes we’ve been working on for some time … to make sure we’re maintaining diversity in the incoming class [and] making sure the campus climate results we’re getting, we’re doing something with that information.
DP: What difficulties do you anticipate confronting?
JC: We’ve got the addition of two groups: Koreans at Penn ... and MAPS, which is a minority organization for pre-professionals interested in health. And so with those two new groups and with the same groups who haven’t really been able to really learn that much about each other over the past year, it’s going to be rather difficult to try and make sure that we’re the board that makes them come together.
DP: How do you plan to strengthen partnerships between existing UMC minority groups?
GJMT: That’s something that will come with our effort and hopefully … their effort as well.
JC: This year it would be wonderful to, through our unions and special social events that we have in mind for the coming year, … help them to get to know one another.
