Anyone living in Harrison can pick up the carts from the Info Desk and sign them out for up to an hour. There are six carts in total, with a limit of one per person. Hopefully, if the program is popular, it will expand to the other high rises and eventually across all on-campus housing!

The UA passed a resolution on reservations, accepted by the Vice-Provost of University Life, which:

• Mandated the Student Government Info Session be given priority access to the Cohen Auditorium,
• Insisted that Perelman Quad not “upgrade” room reservations without prior notice and consent of groups booking rooms. Once a room is assigned, barring priority-order conflicts, that room should not be reassigned.
• In the case of reassignments, the UA asked VPUL Facilities to not reassign any room assigned to a student group without notifying the affected groups at least sixteen (16) calendar days in advance of the booking.
• Ensured that notice of early bookings for the next academic year (usually made available in March) be communicated to the UA and to SAC and distributed widely to the undergraduate population.

These policies are slated to go into effect in Fall 2009.

The short move-out time was first protested against on Facebook; the UA responded and issued a 700-person survey, which paved the way for a resolution on Move-Out in the Fall Semester of this year. After that, and extensive discussions with Housing Services, the move-out deadline was eventually moved to 5pm on the day after exams.

In addition, we will survey all undergraduate residents of the College Houses and Sansom Place on this year’s move-out process to measure the effectiveness of the change and field suggestions for further improvement. However, looking at anecdotal evidence, it appears as if the change has worked very well for all involved!

Any students with questions on the policy change or other elements of Move-Out should email moveout@exchange.upenn.edu.

Allocation to different branches in the 09-10 Budget

Every year the UA is given around $1.8 million to allocate to the branches of student government for the upcoming year – money that funds Spring Fling, major speakers, Hey Day, Sophomore Skimmer, free New York Times, and, of course, every student group on campus. Our money comes from the Trustees, and is pegged to the General Fee.

This year, of course, the economy ran into a little trouble, but the General Fee went up by 3.9% and so the UA was given an extra $67,000 to distribute. This was important; with budget cutting in every department, students can’t rely on non-student funding sources any more. Plus, the UA Budget Committee and PSG Treasurers found nearly $50,000 in savings from careful cutting of unnecessary and less popular programs.

In the end, our increase and new savings meant that:

• SAC gets another $25,000 boost to student group funding.
• SPEC got more than $28,000 extra for a better Spring Fling concert, SPEC-TRUM concert, and Fall/Spring Major Speakers.
• The UA began funding PennArts and PennGreen, two new and exciting freshman pre-orientation programs.

The full budget is online or in a printer friendly version, as you prefer. For the full low-down on the budget, check after the jump.

The new budget provides for some exciting new programs:

• For the first time PennArts and PennGreen will have institutional funding, ensuring their long-term survival. This is part of the UA’s commitment to the Pre-Orientation program in general: we partly fund every pre-orientation program that Penn offers.
• SCUE, the academic policy branch of the PSG, can launch the next of its acclaimed and influential White Papers thanks to a boost of $6,000.
• The Wine Tasting Preceptorial is back to full funding, thanks to cuts and economies made by the organizers.
• The UA-New York Times Readership Program will be fully funded this year.
• SPEC can launch a new Spring Crafts Fair, following on the success of their Fall fair.
• SPEC-TRUM now has access to a $6,000 discretionary co-sponsorship fund for minority groups with new speaker events in need of funding.
• La Unidad Latina and the Kappa Scholarship Ball are now both funded by SPEC-TRUM for the first time.

Plus, the most successful and popular SPEC events got a funding boost:

• $45,000 extra for the Spring Fling Concert, securing even better talent for next year and keeping the concert in the high-capacity Franklin Field.
• $7,500 extra for Spring Fling itself, to improve the Carnival and general Fling security.
• $8,000 more for SPEC Connaissance major speakers, allowing us to keep high-profile speakers like Madeline Albright and Anderson Cooper coming to campus!
• $6,000 extra for SPEC-TRUM Concert production and talent, ensuring the SPEC-TRUM Concerts will continue to build on their impressive reputation.

Most importantly for many of you, SAC’s budget has increased for the tenth consecutive year, with an extra $25,573 for student groups.

Finally, the Budget Committee was able to find just over $47,000 in savings to pay for these significant budget boosters (unlike another government, we actually balance our budget!). Many of these savings were hard to make, but all were essential to ensure a healthy budget going into the uncertain future:

• $15,000 was saved by cutting the Film Society Speaker event.
• $10,000 was saved by reducing talent costs for both the Fall and Spring Jazz + Grooves shows.
• $5550 was saved by reducing usage of the Dolphin Server (web space for student groups).
• $5200 was saved by cutting SPEC “Philly Week”.
• $3085 was saved by ruthlessly cutting advertising and food costs across all student government budgets.
• $2665 was saved by eliminating the SPEC Special Events Oscars Party.
• $1700 was saved by the NEC reducing their ad purchase for elections.
• $1,525 was saved by reducing hospitality costs in the Spring Fling concert.
• $1,500 was saved by halving the number small shows produced by SPEC Concerts.
• $780 was saved by scaling down SCUE Education Week.

The Budget is prepared by a lengthy process, which involves the UA Budget Committee (consisting of the Treasurer and two upperclassmen UA members elected at the beginning of the year) consulting with all PSG branch Treasurers, then preparing a recommendation that is considered, amended, and ultimately approved by the UA General Body of representatives at the meeting immediately before Spring Break. This year, the Budget Committee’s recommendation was affirmed by the General Body without amendment. For more questions on the budget, contact the Budget Committee at budget@pennua.org.

Do comment below about the final result. Did we cut something we shouldn’t have? Or fund something useless? Let us know! It’s your money – how we spend it is in your hands!

Unfortunately, owing to Philadelphia’s high crime rate, it’s very difficult for dining facilities to remain open late at night. Most recently, we saw this when the 24-hour Philly Diner on 39th and Walnut, having been the site of a fatal shooting over Winter Break in 2005 and most recently another shooting this past Spring, agreed to close its doors at 1am Sunday to Wednesday and at 2am on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

With Philly Diner’s closure, only very few vendors, such as Wawa, McDonalds and the Fresh Grocer, serve food on campus after 1am. Less than a day after the early closure deal was announced, the UA began to forcefully lobby for additional late-night options.

We agreed in large part with the DP’s editorial:

Now, with Philly Diner’s earlier hours, the only eateries left open are fast-food places ill-suited for large groups or students who want to study while grabbing a bite. At 2 a.m., most students at Penn are still awake. Registered parties end at that time and few privately hosted parties end earlier. After a night out, most students need to wind down. And students spending all night studying need a place to refuel in the middle of the night.

That being said, the UA also supported the decision to close Philly Diner early, as it was guided by honest and thoughtful considerations of student safety. In planning for a new late night option, the UA has insisted that safety should be Penn’s highest priority to ensure that incidents like those surrounding Philly Diner won’t happen again.

The UA has lobbied the Division of Public Safety and Real Estate Services for new late-night dining options; we’re confident that at least one new offering will be available soon. Watch this space for details!

Thankfully, Penn is responding to the dangers and inconviences of biking:

• The Division of Public Safety launched a “Share the Road” campaign, summarized in this nifty brochure, aimed at educating drivers and bikers about how to ride on the same road together,
• Penn will install more bike racks around campus (by Fall 2009) to accommodate more cyclists and provide more safe places to store your bike,
• New signs will be placed around Locust Walk explaining the University policy that you cannot ride a bike there during class hours, followed by expanded enforcement of this rule by DPS,
• Local vendors will only sell U-Locks for bikes. This is good, because A CABLE LOCK IS NO BETTER THAN NO LOCK AT ALL. If you tie your bike to a pole with a cable lock, your bike will be stolen. QED. Invest in a U-Lock.

In addition, a task force led by Mark Pan, the UA’s Civic and Community Engagement Director, and Mark Chou of the Living Water Christian Fellowship launched a major multi-partisan panel discussion on the casino development, filling a large Huntsman classroom with curious students.

As the approval process for the proposed Foxwoods casino moves forward, the UA will keep a watch on an issue that has a large impact on the local community, including undergraduates living at Penn.

Check below the fold for more details about what Penn’s doing in sustainability.

Academics

• Courses involving sustainability have been flagged in the Penn Course Search tool for convenience.
• In conjunction with SCUE, the University is set to announce a Sustainability Minor for undergraduates.
• Ecology, Technology, and Design and Architecture and Ecology: Dimensions of Sustainability are new courses in Penn’s Design School, whose faculty includes William Braham, a global expert on sustainable architecture, and the PennPraxis project, which works directly with the City of Philadelphia on its new, state-of-the-art, pedestrian-friendly waterfront area.
• The Biosphere at Kings Court/English House is an active student experience designed to enhance the interaction of College House residents with their environments, especially in relation to food and nature.
• The Initiative for Environmental Studies houses programs and faculty in environmental research from a wide range of perspectives, focusing on: Environmental Policy; Environmental Engineering; Environmental Toxicology; and Earth, Ecology, and Ecosystems.
• Toward Environmental Sustainability on Penn’s Campus, an Ideas in Action course in Fall 2007 funded by the Provost’s Office, directly involved Penn students in creating reports to the administration on the best methods of advancing the University’s sustainability goals.

Energy

Penn has been a national leader in wind power purchasing:

· In 2001, Penn purchased 20 million kilowatt hours of wind-generated power per year for three years.

· In 2003, Penn extended its wind power purchase to a 10-year commitment, providing sustained funding that led to the construction of a new 12-turbine wind farm in Pennsylvania.

· On April 28, 2008, Penn purchased an additional 80,000 megawatt hours per year, bringing its total annual wind energy purchase to nearly 200,000 megawatt hours, which accounts for 46 percent of Penn’s total energy use.

· Penn has ranked consistently as one of the nation’s top 25 green-power purchasers since the EPA began ranking institutions in 2005.

Penn has also surged ahead in energy conservation:

· Penn saves more than $5-million annually in energy costs through state-of the-art central monitoring and control of utilities.

· Campus buildings are fed from a central chilled water loop completed in 2007 which freezes water at night when energy costs are low to provide cheaper and more sustainable air con.

· The University has commissioned the School of Design’s TC Chan Center to provide both a building-by-building campus energy model, and a comprehensive greenhouse gas inventory.

· Each fall, the Penn Environmental Group (PEG) offers replacement compact fluorescent bulbs to students for use in their on-campus residences. In 2007, over 1000 incandescent bulbs were replaced by students in their rooms and common spaces, resulting in significant energy savings.

Recycling

Penn is slowly but surely making recycling ubiquitous across campus, and more and more students, faculty, and staff are starting to recycle.

· Recently Penn rolled out a number of Big Belly recycling bins around the core of campus.

· In 2007, Penn diverted over 1600 tons of recovered materials from landfills – about 20 percent of the total campus waste including an average of 400 pounds of “no value” mail each month.

· Penn participates in RecyleMania each year, which helps focus campus wide attention around the issue of recycling.

· Penn is working on GreenIT Initiatives including recycling used computers (as well monitoring computer energy use). To learn more about how to dispose computers, click here.

· People living on campus can recycle their CFL lights and batteries by placing them into specially-labeled white buckets located at each House Info Center.

· Penn Dining has gone Tray Free in the dining halls in order to reduce food waste and the associated environmental footprint.

· Working with a local construction waste management company, Penn salvages valuable materials from construction project sites, including carpet scraps, metals, ceiling tile, and drywall. When demolition of older buildings is necessary, deconstruction procedures salvage light fixtures, railings, carved stone, and windows for reuse on campus or sale.

· 100 percent of the leaves from Penn are composted on campus – over 650 cu yards annually – and used in university gardens, planting beds, and fields, saving both the cost and energy to dispose of the leaves and to bring compost to Penn.

Bike sharing usually takes the form of a government-administered system akin to car rental where you book a bike to be picked up at one location and dropped off at another. Hence, bike sharing s especially useful for commuters, who take a bike from their home to work and then take another bike from work to home. For Penn students, bike sharing could alleviate the pain of science or math majors who want to get from their 40th street college house to the DRL!

To urge the City to bring Bike Sharing to Philadelphia faster, the UA passed a Bike Sharing Resolution. Sure enough, the City responded to lobbying from Penn and others and announced in the Greenworks Philadelphia initiative a comprehensive plan for city-wide bike sharing!