UA decides to table proposal on diversifying Locust Walk

The Undergraduate Assembly argued for over an hour last night about ways to diversify Locust Walk, but could not come to a decision and voted to halt debate until next month's meeting. UA member David Rose, presented an 11-point plan to change the residential make-up of Locust Walk, specifically suggesting that President Sheldon Hackney move office space on the Walk to the high rises and fill the vacant buildings with student dormitories. The buildings would then be used to house students on the upper floors and for student activity space on the lower floors. The suggestions also included publicizing a specific time-line for the changes. The recommendation, which stems from a point in the Committee to Diversify Locust Walk's report, underwent several small changes throughout the discussion, but ultimately UA members decided they needed more time to think about the plan. "The University took a whole year on this issue," UA Treasurer Jeff Lichtman said after the meeting. "It's more important to go line-by-line to make the best resolution." Last night's meeting was the UA's third since members endorsed in early October the presidential committee's report and called for a specified time-line. UA Chairperson Mitch Winston, who tried to persuade members to continue discussion last night, said after the meeting that he will be happy if the UA passes a plan by the end of the semester. "I felt our job tonight was to hammer it out even if it took until midnight," Winston said. "If we don't pass it by January, we will be conceding that we will have to wait a whole year before changes occur." But Winston added that "after all this discussion, the president will respect the plan all the more." In other business, UA members unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the University to stop using PARIS to block student registration unless it is "critically important to the health of the student body, the financial well-being of the University or the academic quality of undergraduate education." The resolution referred to the recent blocks to pre-registration the College of Arts and Sciences and the Psychology Department placed on students who have not yet declared a major. It was presented by Student Committee on Undergraduate Education David Kaufman and also demands that the administration discuss any further PARIS blocks with SCUE. The assembly also passed a resolution encouraging students to register their bicycles with University Police to deter bike thefts on and around campus. UA member Brian Bora noted that according to University Police estimates, about three times more bikes have been stolen this year than in previous school years.

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