UA discusses Bridge shooting, budgets, SCUE

Sunday night, the Undergraduate Assembly’s first meeting of the semester had a full agenda, which included the Division of Public Safety’s response to Friday’s shooting at the Bridge Cinema de Lux, life after study abroad and the Social Planning and Events Committee’s budget.

One of the major topics discussed was DPS’s decision to not send out a UPennAlert about the recent shooting at the Bridge, and specifically what type of circumstances would have warranted an alert. Some UA members noted that many of the rumors that circulated that night were due to lack of information, while others questioned whether mass hysteria would have ensued if an alert had been sent out.

College junior and former UA member Grant Dubler broached the topic of students who have to readjust to life at Penn after a semester abroad. Dubler said he had been without wireless internet and was not registered as a Penn student when he returned from his semester in Washington, D.C.

The meeting turned to SPEC’s budget, particularly related to the planned budget for the SPEC Fling Concert. College senior and SPEC President Dasha Barannik said SPEC’s Fling Concert has been the “Achilles heel” of the SPEC budget every year that she has been president because the event has cost more than the allotted amount. She spoke about SPEC To Represent Undergraduate Minorities’ particular need to use SPEC contingency funding.

She also said the SPEC Art Gallery was unable to do a museum trip this year because of limited funds. This discussion was concluded when Dubler pointed out that essentially every year since Barannik had been president of SPEC, the UA has not allotted enough money to SPEC.

The general body meeting moved on to new business with the discussion of the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education’s White Paper Support Resolution. College senior and SCUE chairwoman Alex Berger spoke about the upcoming publication of the White Paper — SCUE’s five-year report — and its three main sections: Classroom, which focuses on curricular, pedagogical and technological issues; Campus Life, which concentrates on interdisciplinary learning; and Civic Engagement/Study Abroad, which concerns research.

The floor was opened up for discussion, and the White Paper Support Resolution passed unanimously.

College junior and Ivy Council representative Mo Shahin proposed that College junior and UA Vice Chairman for External Affairs Matt Amalfitano did not commit sufficient time to his role as the policy liaison to the Ivy Council.

Shahin asked whether the position should be reappointed, but the issue was laid to rest when College junior and UA chairman Alec Webley said despite advertising the position for weeks, nobody new had volunteered.

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