UA wants student funding surcharge

The Undergraduate Assembly is pushing to add an extra three- to five-dollar charge to every undergraduate's bursar bill to create funding earmarked for student activities. Calling the money currently allocated for undergraduate activities "insufficient," the UA unanimously passed a resolution last night to lobby for the added surcharge to the General Fee. According to UA member Jen Strom, who sponsored the resolution, the extra charge will pay for activities like the newly-revived Homecoming festivities and other events. Strom said she will try to garner support from various student groups including the Interfraternity Council, Kite and Key, the Social Planning and Events Committee and Student Activities Council before presenting the resolution to Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson. She said she expects students to fully support the resolution, since it would pay for activities that undergraduates have demanded. The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly passed a similar resolution last year, which resulted in an added surcharge to grad students' General Fee. In other business, the UA passed a resolution opposing a University Council revision of the Racial Harassment Policy. UA members said that the revision unfairly puts the burden of proof of harassment on the person filing charges. The UA statement opposes the revised policy because the policy uses the phrase "fighting words" to determine whether or not a situation falls under harassment policy guidelines. The UA statement, sponsored by Minority Concerns Chairperson Leonard Kim, says that the "fighting words" clause is too ambiguous because if a student does not respond with a fighting response, "the policy fails." The UA statement calls for the administration to reject the new revision, and says that even though the current racial harassment policy is flawed, it is "superior" than the new proposal. Kim said after the meeting that he expects other student groups to oppose the new policy and to pass resolutions similar to the UA's. The UA passed a third resolution last night calling for University faculty and trustees to change the name of the Oriental Studies Department. The resolution says that the word "Oriental" has negative connotations and that no other Ivy League school uses the term in a department name. Wharton junior Tex Roper, who is not a UA member, proposed a resolution at the end of last night's meeting calling for the UA's "unequivocal support" of the University's Greek system. The resolution says that the the UA would oppose "any suggestion or proposal that undergraduate fraternities and sororities be stripped of any recognition, privileges, or property rights." The resolution was tabled until the next UA meeting. At the beginning of last night's meeting, UA Chairperson Duchess Harris taped to the wall a "Steering Shit List" of eight UA members, several of whom are committee chairpeople. These representatives made the list by missing 25 percent of mandatory UA meetings and will have to appear before the UA Steering Committee this week.

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