Sunday night, the Undergraduate Assembly held its weekly meeting. The agenda included the passage of the Wharton American Sign Language Resolution and the Bylaws Amendment concerning the University Committee Appointment.
Other points considered were the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education’s budget and the Division of Public Safety’s follow-up on the lack of a UPenn Alert after the Bridge shooting.
The UA discussed the Wharton School’s policy of refusing to count American Sign Language toward the foreign language requirement.
Sign language is the only language that Wharton excludes, according to College Representative and College junior Michael Chen. Unlike Wharton, the Schools of Nursing and Engineering and the College, accept sign language for language credit.
Originally, Wharton Vice Dean Georgette Chapman Phillips said the foreign language requirement should help students understand a different culture and its business components, according to Vice Chair External and College junior Matt Amalfitano.
The discussion concluded when the resolution urging Wharton to allow sign lanuage to fulfil the global language requirement passed unanimously.
The UA then turned to a debate on a Bylaws Amendment on the University Committee Appointments.
The amendment would replace the seat traditionally given to a Nominations and Elections Committee member on the Trustee Committee on Budget and Finance to the UA Treasurer, according to Wharton Representative and Wharton junior Ryan Houston.
It is “essential” that the UA treasurer hold this position in order for the link between the UA members and Trustees to become stronger, Houston said.
The main concern was that they didn’t want to “lock out” other students who might be interested, NEC Chairwoman and College senior Rachel Levick said.
This amendment was passed with 15 votes for the amendment and 10 votes against the amendment.
The general body also discussed SCUE’s budget, which was mostly spent on publications — specifically the White Paper and the Roadmap to Penn — along with preceptorials and collaboration with other groups, according to SCUE Treasurer and Engineering senior Sarah Doherty.
During the Open Forum, Housing, Sustainability and Facilities Director and Engineering senior Dan Sanchez introduced the topic of the DPS follow-up on the lack of a UPenn Alert.
There was a discussion with the Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush and DPS was “very receptive to our concerns.”
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