Why students should care about the UA

From a free music service to advocacy for sustainable practices on campus, the Undergraduate Assembly is working for students

By: Brett Thalmann & Jason Karsh

Throughout the year, we constantly get asked the questions: "What does the UA do?" or "Why should I care about student government?"

These questions, while seemingly simple, cannot be answered in this limited guest column. We hope, however, to explain some of our accomplishments from this past year and give you a preview of what to expect in the coming year.

In previous years, the UA has become more accountable and has increasingly focused on projects that are tangible to students.

We have tackled sustainability - an environmentally conscious campaign - and have successfully brought the issue to the forefront of the administrative agenda. President Amy Gutmann has even signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, committing Penn "to achieve climate neutrality by reducing campus greenhouse gas emissions."

Our calls for improved Student Health facilities that began with the formation of the Student Health Advisory Board, have resulted in the recent announcement of a new facility for Student Health Services.

While advocating for improvements to College Houses, we collaborated with the University to ensure that the high-rises will be fully renovated and further identified the dire need for renovations in the low-rises. In the midst of the huge undertaking of high-rise renovations, we've successfully convinced the university to make specific and immediate improvements to the low rises.

We have not yet even mentioned our most widely known projects throughout the year!

After two years of planning, the UA brought Ruckus Music Service free to students.

For the second year in a row we've run the convenient and cheap UA bus service to the airport before every major holiday break.

Most recently, we spearheaded the program that brought students free copies of The New York Times, USA Today and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Additionally, this year saw an amazing collaboration among student leaders through UA Steering, the committee of the UA that brings the leaders of every umbrella and representative organization together to discuss major student issues.

Notably, the amazing Penn traditions of Spring Fling and Hey Day were preserved by the collaboration and support of the members of UA Steering. For example, Fling Safe, run by SPEC, found immense support and feedback that proved crucial to its success. When Hey Day was called into jeopardy, it was UA Steering that worked with the Class Boards to promote and publicize efforts to curb dangerous, emerging trends.

For the coming year, the UA plans to build off the great momentum achieved this year. We plan to increase the accessibility of the UA by reaching out directly to students and student groups. We plan to be more visible through YouTube addresses that will accompany all-school e-mails. We also want to ensure that students have the ability to be heard by their student representatives, so there will be a 10 minute open forum at every UA meeting next year.

We plan on empowering students through providing a strong student voice to administrators and empowering UA members to pursue projects that are important to themselves and the student body at large.

Finally, we plan to increase efficiency of the UA through a more transparent process and productive meetings.

So, when posing the question: "Why should I care about student government?" the answer is really that student government cares about you. Whether you pay us heed or not, we work on tangible projects that improve student life.

The real question is, what do you want your student government to do for you?

Originally published in the Daily Pennsylvanian on 5/11/07.

~BT