Penn Park tennis courts to offer free use

Penn Park will now be serving tennis players for free.

Students will no longer have to pay $5 hourly fee to use the park’s Hamlin Outdoor Tennis Center, Wharton and Engineering senior and Undergraduate Assembly President Tyler Ernst announced at the UA meeting on Sunday night.

This was thanks to the combined efforts of the Undergraduate Assembly and Penn Athletics.

The new tennis court at Penn Park replaced the Lott Tennis Courts, which occupied the space next to David Rittenhouse Laboratory. Demolition of the Lott Tennis Courts began shortly after Penn Park’s opening last month and will be replaced by Shoemaker Green, a new 2.75-acre public commons.

During the meeting, UA members also discussed including a permanent transfer seat on the Undergraduate Assembly for incoming transfer students and scheduling freshman elections later in the fall semester next year.

“Some transfers feel that we don’t get proper representation on the UA … what we’d like is one guaranteed seat for the transfer class specifically,” said College sophomore Nikolai Zapertov, who transferred to Penn this fall. The only incoming transfer student who ran for election this semester lost, he added.

College freshman Gabe Delaney said moving freshman elections back by three to four weeks in future years would allow incoming students “to base themselves in some way” before running for positions.

College sophomore Ernest Owens, a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist, disagreed. Postponing elections would “push back progress,” he said, as there are a lot of empty student government seats at the beginning of every semester.

Wharton senior and UA Vice President Faye Chang agreed with Owens, though she believed campaigns would be “more substantial” if elections were postponed.

Members deferred discussion on these matters to future meetings as they would require constitutional changes.

UA representatives also followed up on the plan to create a common funding application for student groups looking to host events. It is set to be completed by December and will allow student groups to apply for funds from all alternative funding sources collectively.

College junior Sam Bieler, the UA’s housing, services and facilities director, suggested integrating the common funding application with a free rooms database “to allow [student] groups to locate free rooms on campus.”

Members also discussed the UA’s efforts to include condom dispensers around campus. The UA will reach out to administrators and develop funding models to make condom dispensers a reality.

UA representatives also addressed the possibility of allowing Penn alumni to keep their undergraduate email addresses. “It doesn’t seem like this policy will change anytime soon,” College sophomore Will Smith said.

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