College senior Jon Monfred and College junior Ernest Owens resigned from their positions as Undergraduate Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore and UA College Representative, respectively, late Sunday night at the UA’s last general body meeting of the semester.
While Monfred will be graduating by the end of December, and therefore cannot serve on the UA because he will officially be a graduate, Owens — a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist and video producer-elect — attributed his resignation to dissatisfaction with the progress the UA over the past several years.
“Serving on the UA has been one of the most rewarding and personally enlightening experiences during my time at Penn,” Monfred said. “Although a democratically elected body lends itself to being composed of hotheads and big egos, I value the friendships I have made and I am confident that the UA will continue to successfully advocate on behalf of the student body.”
However, Owens expressed his disappointment with the body as a whole.
“The UA has done a poor job of advocating for marginalized students, many of which I’m a part of,” Owens said. “I find that in my other endeavors, through media especially, I’ve been able to connect and inspire students and leaders to recognize the bigger issues we face.”
To fill the vacant College positions, the next highest vote-getters from spring 2012 elections — two upperclassmen in the College — will be given the two representative positions on the UA.
A previous version of the story incorrectly reported that the next highest vote-getters from the fall elections will fill the vacant positions. It will be the spring 2012 elections.
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