Cornelius Range | Our collective ability to improve Penn

Every once in a while, it’ll happen.

I could be doing anything — watching the cinematic classic Pootie Tang after a long day of class, explaining to local police officers that the Second Amendment protects my right to bear nunchucks, making beef ramen noodles or generally doing anything but my homework — when I’ll suddenly stop and smile. Being at Penn is such a gift, a blessing.

It’s a dream come true.

Every day, my academic pursuits bring me into contact with the vibrant personalities, tenacious spirits and rising intellectuals who will soon inherit the responsibility of not only leading this world into the next century but also of leaving it a better place to pass on to the generations that will follow.

However, we cannot meet this challenge successfully as individuals. We can never be successful fragmented by our own interests.

Only together, through dialogue and compassion, can we hope to meet this paramount obligation.

And we must. I have faith in our collective efficacy to someday shape a better society and build a better world.

But I don’t think we should wait for “someday” to make our presence felt. We can begin imposing our will right now.

I believe that the Undergraduate Assembly can become something special.

Since I’ve been at Penn, the UA has operated more like a mock-government club than a student government.

I know because I served on the body for a year and a half. I was not, and am not, content with the UA for what it is now.

If you’ve ever been invited to a UA meeting, then you know that many of the projects the UA takes on fail to come to fruition.

You have seen firsthand how the UA debates semantics for hours on resolutions that are ironically never resolved.

However, most likely, you have never been invited to a UA meeting and thus have never had a reason to attend one.

The current UA does not understand that true democracy is all about working to ensure all perspectives are heard and power is not monopolized.

Current UA leadership does not want to give Mo “Money” Haider, Jenny Xia, Akshay Agashe or Michael Rivera a voice, but they must be given a chance.

Support them. I am using my voice now so you hear them. When I am president, I will do the same for you.

When I am president, I promise that the UA will dance to the sounds of a slow jam.

The UA will take things slow but do things right by giving the student body an integral role in everything we do.

For the UA I envision, it will be an understatement to say that the UA has a good relationship with the student body because in the UA I hope to shape, the UA and student body will be one.

My idea for a cross-campus summit will make the Undergraduate Assembly live up to its moniker by working to include as many students in student government who’d like to participate.

For the first time, instead of leaving 33 members responsible for setting the goals for the next year, the student body will take on this task as a whole. Next year’s UA retreat will literally be an assembly of undergraduates.

In the UA that I envision, instead of writing resolutions we will write history.

Finally, I have experience — Dining Hall Day, College Day, Intellectual Property Rights.

More importantly though, I have a vision.

When elected president, I will fight to departmentalize cultural studies, repair Penn’s relationship with University City High School and give you greater discretion in choosing Spring Fling artists.

I hope you can see it with me.

If elected president, I promise one of the most unique and prolific UAs in the history of the organization.

This spring, we have the opportunity to forever leave our mark on Penn’s campus.

We have the opportunity to do something special. Let’s take this opportunity together. Let us take it to a “Hole Nutha Level.”

Cornelius Range is a College junior from Memphis, Tenn. He is a former UA member and a presidential candidate. Check out Cornelius' candidate page here.

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