Students struggling to find funding for their events may soon find an easy solution.
Sunday night, Undergraduate Assembly members — including the eight newly elected freshmen — voted in favor of creating a common funding application, which would allow student event planners to apply to multiple sources for funding at once.
Members also voted to create a new events calendar that would integrate Facebook events and possibly allow students to sync the calendar with their personal Google Calendar or iCal.
The UA and PennApps Labs — a UA-funded, student-run organization that seeks to create new technology at Penn — will work jointly on creating the common funding application this semester.
“Nobody knows there is a funding guide on our website, and I think it would be easy for everyone to just send in one application,” UA member and Wharton sophomore Tiffany Zhu said.
PennApps Labs currently runs Penn Book Bazaar, the online resource for students to list and purchase books. After fall break, PennApps Labs will introduce changes to Penn Course Review, the online site which displays class and professor reviews.
Members also discussed a program that the Office of College Houses & Academic Services will pilot, which will select a student to design and implement a residential program next year.
The application will be available from the middle of October to the middle of November, and the winner will be decided in December, said Residential Advisory Board Chairman and College senior John Gee, who is a UA Associate Member.
“Hopefully this new program will be in place by next fall. Now we’re just trying to do outreach,” Gee said.
Members suggested introducing club-affiliated and more academic-focused residential programs and discussed some issues in the current system.
“It’s important to consider that the programs are used mostly to get into a certain house,” UA member and Wharton freshman Daniel Fine said, referring to the housing application process.
This week, the UA will meet with Student Registration and Financial Services to discuss financial aid policy for international students.
Members also suggested topics for this week’s Admission Dean’s Advisory Board meeting, from including sexual orientation on applications to helping freshmen transition to college better.
ADAB currently plans to discuss “international student aid and undocumented student acceptances” with the Admissions Office, Wharton sophomore and ADAB representative Nigel Lam said.
College junior Erich Reimer and College senior Sam Bieler, who are both UA members, shared information from their meeting with the Naval ROTC program, in which they discussed its “concerns,” Reimer said.
“Currently, their courses don’t receive credits, and that’s definitely an issue,” Reimer said.
