Emily Shaeffer | Uniting Steering groups

What do you remember about your first New Student Orientation activity fair? I remember being totally overwhelmed and excited by the thousands of opportunities and hundreds of groups I could join. Penn’s diverse student body is apparent when you look at how many strong communities we have around campus. All of these different organizations are represented by the Undergraduate Assembly Steering Committee.

UA Steering meets every two weeks and has 33 umbrella organizations that represent almost every group on campus. Have you ever gone to see Penn Masala, Onda Latina, Mask and Wig, Front Row or any of the other performing arts groups? Most of the performing arts groups at Penn are represented by the Performing Arts Council, which has a seat on UA Steering. Gone to see a basketball game lately? All of the varsity sports teams are represented by the Student Athlete Advisory Council. Many groups are represented multiple times. For example, The Little Black Book, a publication focusing on black women’s interests is represented by Penn PubCo, UMOJA and the Student Activities Council. Like reading The Daily Pennsylvanian? Well, they have a seat on Steering too.

Steering is an incredible opportunity for all of the different communities at Penn to come together to work on larger collaborative issues. This year for the first time ever, Steering has been given the power to set the UA agenda. That means if there’s something student groups think is important, Steering can vote to send it to the UA. Additionally, for the first time Steering will be led by the first ever directly elected vice president. That means not only do student groups now get a larger say in what the UA does, but students get to vote on who they want to bring Steering groups together.

I want to be your vice president and I have the necessary skills to bring Steering’s diverse groups together. I want them to invest in each other and I want to help Steering guide the UA to ensure that the projects the UA undertakes are those most important to students. I’ve served on the UA for the past two years, last year as a freshman representative, and this year as an Engineering representative and director of the Civic and Philadelphia Engagement (CPE) Committee. In my experience on the UA, I’ve worked with Steering groups and administrators both for my own projects and for those of the other committee members. As the CPE director, I’ve led meetings and facilitated inter-group communication.

Over the past year, CPE has been working with Civic House Associates Coalition to try and reduce the hassle and cost of the background checks that student groups need to have in order to work with children in the Philadelphia public schools. My committee is working with Admissions Dean Eric Furda and the Nominations and Elections Committee to create an Admissions Deans Advisory, which will hopefully include representatives from Lambda Alliance, Asian Pacific Student Coalition, Latino Coalition, United Minorities Council, UMOJA, Assembly of International Students and SAAC, as well as several at-large members. This will give students a way to influence and help the admissions process. We’ve also put a Philadelphia resources guide for students on the UA website, and worked on several projects to outreach to youth, both in Philadelphia and around the country.

Going into this year, the UA is trying to move forward with top priorities for students, like increasing late-night dining options. I want to help the student voice become even louder, and I hope you’re as excited about the new opportunities for student input in our student government as I am! Please vote for me and give me the opportunity to use my experience and energy to help bring our communities together. For more information on me and my campaign, please visit: tinyurl.com/EmilyforVP.

Emily Shaeffer is an Engineering sophomore, UA Civic and Philadelphia Engagement Committee director and candidate for UA Vice President. Her e-mail address is emily.shaef@gmail.com.