The Oct. 26 meeting of the Undergraduate Assembly focused on mitigating internal UA issues and on a funding request brought by Asian Pacific American Heritage Week.
Prior to the meeting, the UA general body held elections for a new secretary to replace College sophomore Natalie Hernandez, who stepped down last week. College and Wharton sophomore Andrew Gegios was elected by a majority of the UA.
Class Board name change
In order to help recruit new members, the Class Boards filed a request with Penn Student Government to be able to call themselves Class Executive Boards.
The approved change was announced on Sunday after discussions between the UA, Nominations and Elections Committee and Class Boards. Permission to use the alternate name only lasts until the end of UA President Joyce Kim's term.
Junior Class Board President Jesus Perez added that there are a variety of boards, such as the Dining Advisory Board and Residential Services Advisory Board, so adding the “executive” makes the purpose more clear.
Removal of college representative
The UA general body decided to remove College sophomore Kendall Finlay from his role as a UA College representative.
UA members can only miss 35 percent of weekly meeting in order to remain on the body. Finlay had missed five out of the seven meetings thus far. Because the UA will only have 12 meetings, he has already exceeded the 35 percent, even if he attended every meeting for the rest of the semester.
Per UA bylaws, Finlay was allowed to contest the decision. According to a statement by the UA, Finlay said that he still felt strongly about working with the UA and had not realized missing the most recent meeting could lead to his removal. Finlay’s contestation and the UA’s deliberation were both closed to the public.
Contingency Request
Asian Pacific American Heritage Week requested a little under $2,000 in contingency funding from the UA to support a Nov. 6 concert featuring YouTube artist Sam Tsui.
Contingency funding is a last resort funding option supported by a specific part of the UA budget, which currently contains around $16,000. APAHW had already approached and received funding from SPEC Fully Planned, as well as other funding sources. The total cost of the week, which aims to promote discourse about Asian American heritage, is around $27,000.
Wharton freshman and UA representative David Cahn proposed increasing the ticket price from $7 to $10 to help APAHW fulfill its funding deficit, but other UA members spoke in support of granting the funding to APAHW.
The UA general body did vote to award APAHW their total requested funds, following the recommendation of the budget committee.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that UA members must attend 35 percent of weekly meetings in order to remain on the body. UA members can only miss 35 percent of weekly meetings. The DP regrets the error.
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