What ‘hope’ means for outgoing UA President Nia Matthews

On Sunday night, Wharton junior Nia Matthews delivered her final address as president of Penn’s Undergraduate Assembly.

Hours prior, Matthews sat down with The Daily Pennsylvanian to reflect on her tenure. Citing major initiatives under the 53rd session of the UA — including a resolution to support club sports and a budget reallocation project — Matthews said her focus has always been on prioritizing “the everyday student experience.”

Despite serving as her high school’s class president, Matthews — who is also a current staffer at the DP — said she initially had no intention of participating in student government at Penn.

“People would always ask me, ‘are you going to do student government in college?’” Matthews recalled. “I was always like, ‘absolutely not,’ because it just took so much of me.”

When she arrived at Penn, however, Matthews described feeling a “natural inclination to start running again.”

Reflecting on her presidency, Matthews explained that the role “really changed and defined” what “leadership” meant to her.  

“I think that when I first joined the UA, I joined with a much narrower perspective and understanding of what leadership was and what it was supposed to look like,” she said.

Matthews recalled her initial expectations for herself as a leader, describing “someone who was always composed, having the answers, being very certain.”

“But through this role, and through the UA in general, I’ve learned that it’s more so about the patience, the humility, the having difficult conversations, and being comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations,” she said.

She also added that it was “really important” for her to run for the highest office within the UA “in a time that’s so politically fragile and sometimes uncertain.”

“I knew going in that this year was going to be hard, that there was so much political turmoil,” Matthews said. “What I didn’t realize was how much of an impact … the federal administration was going to have on higher education.”

Matthews described the challenges she faced while approaching political issues from a student-centered perspective — including a March resolution that urged Penn to establish clear protocols in response to potential federal immigration enforcement. 

According to Matthews, the resolution was drafted as a culmination of “months and months of conversations internally and externally with the 7B groups and through various calls to action and cries during University Council” meetings.

During a Feb. 18 University Council meeting, Penn students and organizations voiced concerns about the possibility of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity on campus. The topic has appared on the group’s agenda on multiple occassions.

“I think a lot of the battle this year for us in some way, shape, or form has always gone back to this idea of holding the University accountable for their own values, being intentional in the things they say and that they do,” Matthews said.

She added that the “biggest challenge consistently” as an intermediary between students and administration has been “navigating the gap between student urgency and the institutional pace and process.”

“Students tend to want answers swiftly and responsiveness as quickly as possible, which makes sense, but universities are built, and the way our administration specifically has constructed itself is to be more slow and cautious through many bureaucratic layers,” she described.

Matthews also pointed to other UA-led initiatives that have required “learning how to advocate for those things while still operating within those systems,” including a joint statement co-authored and signed by the UA in response to the federal administration’s proposed White House Compact for Academic Excellence in October 2025.

As a first year in 2023, Matthews joined the UA as a New Student Representative. The following year, she was appointed as a Wharton School Representative externally and UA Secretary internally before being elected as UA President for the 2025-26 academic year.

She referenced a UA resolution passed in January 2025 — when Matthews was UA Secretary — that called on the University to disclose its investments and advocated for increased financial transparency. 

“I would love to see more progress on transparency and on the funding reform and some of the broader institutional conversations around belonging and student protections,” Matthews said.

Matthews said she looked back on her time “already sitting at the table” during important discussions this year.

“It’s been rough,” she said. “The atmosphere changes almost every single day, and I’ve seen how it’s impacted students.”

Matthews told the DP that when she initially outlined goals for her terms, the “number one goal” was to “expand the general student body’s understanding of what the UA is, what we do, who we are, and how we can help them.”

Referencing her school-wide emails, Matthews explained the importance of “having a human touch.”

“The fact that people were connecting myself with the UA and with the emails that I was sending out and the content that was within the emails meant a lot to me,” she continued.

“In those moments where students needed clarity and urgency, whether that was around their rights or safety, or urging the University to take institutional accountability, we’re willing to speak plainly and push those conversations forward,” Matthews said. “I think broadly speaking, that’s been the general theme that I’m the most proud of.”

She acknowledged criticism describing the UA as an “ineffective or out of touch” organization. Matthews told the DP that she hopes communication from the UA will continue to improve and that “if students don’t see the work that we do, or if it doesn’t reach them clearly, it makes sense for the disconnect to exist in their minds.”

“It’s not always perfect, and I think student government should continue to be pushed to be better,” Matthews admitted. “I think it’s important that students recognize that if they want a campus that’s more responsive and more equitable and more accountable, then student representation does matter,” she said.

Matthews also shared advice for College junior and newly elected UA President Musab Chummun — who she described as her “right hand man.” Chummun served as vice president under Matthews. 

“Musab, he bounces back every single time,” Matthews said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him take no for an answer. I’d genuinely just tell him to continue doing every single thing that he’s doing.”

“I’m realistic about how much remains unfinished and how much we still need to touch and work on,” she added. “But hope, to me, is not pretending that everything is solved. It’s acknowledging and believing that the work we’re doing is worth continuing.”

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