Faye Cheng | Fostering Penn Pride

Penn is comprised of myriad thriving communities. What it lacks, however, is an overarching community to bring together all these groups, a communal pride in being a part of Penn. As Vice President, it is my goal to create a community of communities and, in effect, foster Penn Pride. I aim to do this by promoting unity, relevancy and representation.

Unity: Over the course of my career on the Undergraduate Assembly and the UA Steering Committee as a representative and then as secretary, I have come to realize the amazing work that is done within student groups at Penn. Whether it is the flagging of prospective lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender student applications by the Lambda Alliance or the everyday heroism of the Medical Emergency Response Team squad, I do believe that Penn students are changing the world. Yet, while many of these groups have achieved great internal successes, I find that there is little interaction between the different organizations. As Vice President, I aim to transcend these barriers to create one greater community of these communities at Penn. The role of the Vice President is to lead UA Steering, and I intend to use this venue to promote unity.

At the beginning of the year, I would like to establish, along with Steering, one set of goals for the year. These goals may be broad — such as increasing community engagement — or specific, like extending Van Pelt Library’s hours. It is this set of common goals that will guide Steering and, effectively, the UA. I would also like to institute collaborative projects between different Steering groups, such as a joint community service project or support of a sporting event. Only by meeting the members and constituents of other groups can organizations understand each other and fully collaborate.

A unified UA Steering is the first step in creating a greater sense of Penn Pride. The second step is to convey this to the student body as a whole.

Relevancy: Many students don’t know what student government does — and for many this is a cause for concern. In my opinion, however, it is more important to serve the students and work on projects that benefit the students rather than laud our accomplishments. It is through substantive work, rather than empty publicity, that I hope to make the UA and UA Steering relevant to the students.

UA Steering consists of all the major undergraduate coalitions, umbrella groups and policy-oriented bodies on campus. As an aggregate, it touches every single student at Penn. Think about the student groups you are involved in, the classes you attend, even the parties you go to on the weekends — in some way or another, they are all linked to UA Steering. Steering, in turn, should be made to work for every single student.

In order to make Steering more relevant to students, I will open up the Steering meetings to all students through an Open Forum section where anyone can come and voice his or her concerns. Likewise, as Vice President, I pledge to attend at least two relevant General Body Meetings of each Steering group each semester. It would be futile for me to claim to be a representative of the communities at Penn if I don’t even understand them.

Representation: Through promoting unity and relevancy, I aim to be a better representative of student group interests to the UA and to the administration. Only by fully understanding the interests of different groups can I advocate for them.

Notice that I have mentioned not one specific project that I wish to accomplish as Vice President. Public safety, textbook affordability, late-night dining, bathroom cleanliness, community engagement, prayer spaces, international student housing, sustainability — these all matter a great deal to me. Nevertheless, what truly matters is not my agenda, but rather, yours.

Why should you care about student government or the Vice Presidential race? Because it affects Penn, and it affects you.

Faye Cheng is a Wharton sophomore, UA secretary and candidate for UA Vice President. Her e-mail address is fche@wharton.upenn.edu.

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