Two heads are better than one.
The UA and GAPSA have worked together on several projects this semester, a stark change for two organizations that previously attacked student problems with separate agendas.
UA chairman Jason Karsh and GAPSA chairman Dan Grabell have been the main force behind the newfound collaboration. Both say this could not have been accomplished previously, since GAPSA was preoccupied with its own restructuring.
"We used to talk to the administration about the same issues separately. . It didn't represent a strong enough force," said Karsh, a College senior.
Grabell recalled that GAPSA was "blindsided" at a University Council meeting in which the UA presented the work it had done on sustainability, an issue that GAPSA also wished to address.
"It was a realization that it was better for us to work together than separately," said Grabell.
Grabell reached out to Karsh early on during their concurrent terms as chairmen - they have met regularly ever since.
Their first collaborative project was bringing the two assemblies together last May to present a "joint, unified force to the administration," starting with the issue of sustainability.
"We're gearing together to fight for common issues," Grabell said.
Other problems the organizations wish to address together include student involvement in PennConnects - the eastward expansion - and bringing music sharing software to the student body.
Grabell admitted that the conversation between GAPSA and the UA has not touched much on campus safety thus far, but he said this issue will definitely come to the foreground given recent gun violence near campus.
"It bolsters our position to say, 'Students at the University believe this,'" as opposed to representing only the undergraduate voice, Karsh said.
Grabell cites this month's Octobus trial, for which both GAPSA the UA allocated funding, as the latest collaborative project between the two organizations.
Graduate students, who previously were not allowed on the UA funded airport bus, will also be able to utilize the service now that the two bodies have reach an agreement on joint funding.
"We really could have given [the UA] some funding for that had we known about it last year," Grabell said.
Karsh vowed that he and Grabell would make sure members of GAPSA and the UA get used to working together to make it more of an "institutional thing."
Still, overlapping concerns only go so far between the two groups, who can be separated by over 10 years in age. Undergrads are probably not interested in stipend sizes, Grabell said, and grad students, likewise, could care less about SAS counseling, Karsh added.
"Collaboration depends on what priorities GAPSA and the UA have," said former UA chairman Brett Thalmann.
Thus, joints meetings will not necessarily become a routine, but the two will continue to address pressing issues to all Penn students as they arise.
And both say the collaboration is more than organizational.
"Dan is really approachable - as an older person, mentor and friend," Karsh said.
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