Matt Amalfitano | My mission to create ‘One Penn’

The deficit started at 18 points, quickly dropped to 17, then 15. The lead was cut to 11, then 9, 6, 5, 3, and finally 1 as the 2005 Penn squad clawed their way back to beat Princeton in overtime. I was not at the Palestra on that historic evening, but I was one of the 33,391 YouTube viewers of the game highlights from February 8, 2005. As I watched the video during the summer before freshman year, I was struck not only by Penn Basketball’s great performance, but also by the passion in the arena. The place was shoulder-to-shoulder; the fans went nuts. It felt like the whole Penn community came together, rallying around one university.

Fast forward five years: in many ways, Penn has only gotten better. We boast the most diverse student population in the Ivy League. The Daily Pennsylvanian wins Pacemaker and Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal awards for fun. And next year, we will all enjoy acres upon acres of green space, from campus through Penn Park and down to the Schuylkill River. Yet the passion of one university coming together that I saw in that video seems absent from our Penn.

I believe that this passion can return. This year, for the first time ever, the entire student body will elect a UA president and vice president. This vote will change much more than the direction of student government — it represents a chance for us to elect individuals that will truly lead our community, rather than just lobby for it. It is a chance for us to show the kind of unity represented in that basketball performance and a chance to coalesce as a community.

Clearly, there will never be a time when every student crowds the sports arenas. But whether your Palestra is your performing arts stage, your research lab or your sorority house, there are plenty of ways that we Penn students show our school spirit. I plan on creating ways to promote all of them in the upcoming year.

First, let’s start with student-lounge space. A prime example of an untapped resource is the basement of 1920 Commons, which can be renovated into a Huntsman Forum-esque space to provide students with a place to study and socialize.

Second, let’s rally around Penn Athletics by returning to the shoulder-to-shoulder student section at games, revamping the Red and Blue Rewards Programming and getting student organizations to sponsor events on game days.

Third, by capitalizing on the breadth and depth of our diverse populations and their programming, we can promote a campus-wide intercultural community.

Fourth, by having Women’s Center staff and Abuse and Sexual Assault Prevention members lead student discussions on sexual-assault awareness, as well as reevaluate the way Penn Alert messages are sent, we can make campus a safer place.

Fifth, by working with the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, Fox Leadership and the Civic House Associates Coalition, we can encourage all student groups to make community engagement a priority.

Sixth, by creating a “P-Fund,” a non-partisan board of students to allocate funding to partisan political events, we can make campus more politically engaged.

Seventh and finally, let’s promote a vibrant social life at Penn by fixing the New Student Orientation wet/dry ratio and revamping the PennPM program, which will improve on-campus nightlife regardless of how students wish to enjoy Penn social life.

Our myriad of activities and interests make us a student body of formidable diversity. But diversity is only as good as our ability to share it, and only when we unite our interests under one university can we be a strong student body. All it takes is a UA president with a commitment to uniting the Penn campus and tangible plans, coupled with an Undergraduate Assembly with equal drive and vision. What matters most, though, is a student body ready to come together. From this election to the next I want this to be our mission — to become One Penn.

Matt Amalfitano is a College junior, UA vice chairman for external affiars and candidate for UA president. His e-mail address is amalf@sas.upenn.edu.