Missing rep topic of 2nd UA meeting

The Undergraduate Assembly may have to spend about $500 and devote several meetings over the next month to Tobias Dengel. Who is Tobias Dengel? Tobias Dengel is a UA representative who decided to spend a semester in Czechoslovakia rather than be one of the Engineering School's three representatives to undergraduate government. The problem is, some UA members do not think Dengel can represent his constituency from Prague. But getting him off the assembly is proving harder than it first appeared. To get a replacement for Dengel, who won his seat in an uncontested election, a candidate must be registered with the Nominations and Elections Committee to be included in the freshman elections in October. But despite demands by the NEC to decide on Dengel's fate by last night's meeting, UA members did not vote on a petition to ask Dengel to resign his position. Instead, they adhered to UA Chairperson Mitch Winston's interpretation of UA by-laws which says the assembly must first contact Dengel and then hold a special meeting to decide the issue. So, UA members will call Dengel in Czechoslovakia today, tell him they may vote to ask him to resign, and then ask him to give his pre-resignation. The UA will then vote on the already accepted or rejected request to resign. According to NEC Chairperson Tanya Young, the UA's delay will force the committee to "restructure" the freshmen election. If the assembly can not settle the issue tonight, the NEC may have to hold a special election, which could cost over $500. "I feel the UA had more than enough time to come to a decision tonight," Young said. "I see no reason for us having to rearrange elections." The petition, which was initiated by College sophomore Jo Jo Graves, was signed by 11 UA members who "feel that Tobias Dengel's absence renders him unable to represent his constituency." If members pass the resolution, Dengel still may not choose to resign. UA members may then decide to throw Dengel out of the assembly. It only takes one-half of the UA to pass a petition, but it takes three-fourths to throw a member out. Dengel's absence leaves the Engineering School only two representatives. Normally, when UA members leave their posts, the candidate with the next highest vote total takes over. In Dengel's case, however, there was nobody else on the ballot. In other business, UA Treasurer Jeff Lichtman asked the UA to endorse the Diversity on the Walk committee's recently released report, which President Sheldon Hackney approved last week. The committee's recommendations have been criticized because they do not deal with the issue of Walk fraternities. Most UA members had not read the report, which was published in the Almanac last week, and after Lichtman read the 18 summary points, they voted to table discussion of the issue until the next UA meeting in two weeks.

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