Liz Lee, a new member to the body this year, pointed out that the scope of an organization is ultimately derived from its mission. The following is a passage from our constitution:
The function of the UA shall be to provide an opportunity for its members to discuss and express their views upon any matter which they deem of general University interest and to make recommendations and pass resolutions with respect thereto.This implies that the mission or "function" of the UA is largely subjective. With Liz's statement in mind, as long as a sufficient number of UA representatives feel that an issue is "of general University interest", it is within the scope of the UA to address it.
So now the question becomes, what is "of general University interest?" I'll follow up later but I hope others contribute until then!
7 comments:
This answer could go on forever, but i think students have to be directly impacted by the issue for it to be eligible to be discussed by the UA. However, how do we as the UA measure how "directly" an issue actually impacts students?
i would agree with Alex that the UA should stay focused on issues that impact students. I think for most issues, common sense can figure out whether an issue impacts students (i.e. Penn dining, housing policies). For issues that aren't as clear cut, the UA should 'measure' the impact by talking and/or polling students.
I would also point you to the guidelines established by previous UA executive boards and presented on February 12, 2006. See the minutes here: http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~ua/05.06/Minutes/Minutes%202.12.06.doc
Re: Newspaper policy -- I really appreciate getting the Times for free. I'd like to have more copies available, though, because often when I look for it the stack's gone.
Re: Newspapers
Is there no way to get both online and paper subscriptions for a reasonable fee? Paper subscriptions keep me up to date on world issues (that we so often forget about in our little Penn bubble), but an online subscription is essential for research (I'd rather do a simple search than page through thousands of pages of old papers). Since the library already has an online subscription to many papers, the Collegiate Readership Program would only broaden our outlook by providing daily papers we can read without a computer.
Making Penn more affordable (combine more financial aid and cutting costs)
And can we please stop putting a dollar sign in the middle of the phrase dining dollars? It looks so silly. We can just call them dining dollars, there's no need for dining dollar$.
First of all, props to the UA for putting this together. Wish I was there to be a part of it.
Anyway, I'm very glad to see that the UA is maximizing it's potential and serving its constituency online. As others have mentioned, I think any feasible efforts that can enhance student life on campus are within the scope of the body's work. From, ahem, Workers' Rights to periodical subscriptions, the issues being addressed on the body are silencing the uninformed critics who think the UA is irrelevant. The body has great potential to enact positive change in the Penn community, but it's up to its members to promote a creative agenda that can consistently find new ways to improve the lives of our fellow students. So far, the new body seems to be off to a great start. Keep up the great work, guys!
Is there any way to get the Wall Street Journal? Does the University have an affiliation with the New York Times? I like the idea of online access that someone previously mentioned
Post a Comment