Flu Vaccine Clinic- The UA co-sponsored the 2011-2012 Penn Flu Vaccine Clinics. Thus far, SHS has administered flu vaccines to nearly 2,000 students via 3 successful mass immunization clinics. They hope to vaccinate about 1,000 more faculty, staff and students at their last clinic on Thursday, October 27^th at the ARCH. The UA, through marketing and “working the Walk” was key in spreading the word about the flu clinics and helped to significantly boost attendance. This collaborative effort, which involved student volunteers, student- and campus-organization co-sponsors, and Student Health staff, will likely serve as a model for future public health interventions at Penn. Questions about this project? Contact our Student Life Director, Jon Monfred, at studentlife@pennua.org

Holiday Absence Policy Resolution- This resolution encouraged professors to observe the University’s policy on religious holidays. Working with PRISM and the Council of Undergraduate Deans, this resolution created a letter to be sent to the faculty reminding them of the policy at the beginning of each semester. Questions about this project? Contact our Academic Affairs Director, Abe Sutton, at academics@pennua.org

Federal Government Pell Grant Funding Support Resolution- The UA affirmed support for the Federal Pell Grant program and sent a letter to Sen. Pat Toomey and expressed to him the importance of Pell Grants to students at Penn. Questions about this project? Contact our President, Tyler Ernst, at president@pennua.org

As always, you can find everything discussed at this week’s meeting here: https://docs.google.com/View?id=dnhzxtk_153×2hgdf

Major Changes Coming to Penn Dining

After listening Penn students voice their concerns about dining , the UA is thrilled to announce that after much lobbying and advocacy on behalf of the student body, changes are coming to the way YOU dine. Here are four major points:

1) Taste of Penn Dining Event- This event sponsored by Penn Dining and the UA will allow students on dining plans to vote for foods that they would like to see in our dining halls. This is a great gesture on the part of Penn Dining and it will truly be your voices being heard.

2) New Dining Plans! Based off of student feedback from the UA and focus groups, there will be a major restructuring of dining plans. Plans will now be reduced, more customizable, and incremental additions will be available. Here are the plans:

Freshman Plans

• EAT Plan (Eat AnyTime)- Unlimited meals and $100 dining dollars
• BEN Plan (Balanced and Eating Naturally)- 370 meals and about $425 dining dollars total
• BFF Plan (Best Food Fit)- 200 meals and $800 dining dollars

Upperclassmen Meals

• OMW Plan (One Meal Works) – 175 meals and $1,150 dining dollars
• CAP Plan (Club and Activities Plan) – 100 meals and $1200 dining dollars
• FIT Plan (Food In Time) 75 meals and $700 dining dollars
• GTG Plan (Good To Go) 50 meals and $2,o00 dining dollars

3) New Dining Hall in McClelland- In partnership with the College Houses, Penn is creating a new and expanded dining experience at McClelland which will expand dining options for over 1400 residents of the Quad. The renovations of McClelland occurred during the summer of 2011 and will open on Thursday, September 7th. Cafe hours are below:

Full service: Monday – Friday 8 am to 8 pm

Express and retail grocery: Monday through Thursday 8 am to 10 pm; Friday 8 am, to 8 pm

Saturday and Sunday, Full service, express and retail grocery – Noon to 6:30 pm

Options include:

• Staff to prepare food while you wait (crepes, omelets, pasta toss, etc.)
• Continental breakfast (waffles, fresh fruit, yogurt)
• Toast and bagel bar
• Salad bar and soup station

There is also be a grocery and express food section with grab and go salads, sandwiches and sushi.  Also created is new soft seating and additional tables and dining space designed for maximum flexibility to accommodate a variety of uses.

4) Dining Advisory Board- Thanks to student feedback and the hard work and dedication of our student life committee, the UA recently passed the Dining Advisory Board Resolution. The DAB is composed of students from different organizations and stakeholders such as Hillel, MSA, RAB, and the College Houses who will meet regularly with representatives from Penn Dining, Bon Appetit, and Business Services. The dining advisory board will improve the quality of dining for student at Penn so that you can have it your way.

Want to get involved with great change like this at Penn? Have any ideas you want to share? It’s easy! The UA wants your feedback, so please make sure to check out pennua.org/outreach and get involved!

Authored by Vinay Rao, Sakina Zaidi, and G.J. Melendez-Torres, the UA also resolved to improve the academic environment for students within testing situations by making a few changes such as ensuring left-handed desks, increased invigilators, adequate desk space, and clear time displays.

Finally, Associate Member Colin Kavanaugh and the Student Life committee is working with the University to prevent identity fraud by promoting the opportunity for students to change their PIN numbers away from the current Social Security Number-based PIN.

Please tell us your thoughts, and check out the full meeting minutes.

WHAT? Awesome, flashy, glamorous, design submissions are needed for this year’s Spring Fling T-Shirts! Be creative and use this years Fling Theme (required): ‘Some Flings Do Come True’
WHY? Winner receives: $100, 2 FLOOR PASSES to the Spring Fling Concert, and the chance to have YOUR design featured on all Fling related merchandise!
WHEN? The contest runs from February 1st-February 22nd
HOW? Submissions should be sent to fling@specevents.net. Files must be in .tiff, .jpeg or 300+ dpi format. No alcohol or drug references are permitted in potential designs.
For more information please contact fling@specevents.net.

2) Upper Quad Student Vendor Applications

If your student group would like a venue in the Upper Quad during Spring Fling, please fill out the application and return it to the Office of Student Life (2nd floor of Houston) by 2/17.

3) Submissions to perform in the Quad

SPEC Spring Fling has officially opened up for submissions to perform in the Quad during Spring Fling! We are looking for dance groups, bands, singers, and any other fun performers to participate. If you have an account with SonicBids we prefer that you submit through our Gig Listing http://www.sonicbids.com/UPennSpringFling! However, if you don’t have a SonicBids account you may email Talisa De Carlo at talisa@specevents.net with your submission or drop it off in the OSL of Houston Hall. This submission should including a Demo CD (or website) and contact info. The Deadline is March 3rd with no exceptions. We look forward to looking over your submissions!

4) Guest Passes

Guest Passes for Spring Fling will be sold from 3/29 to 4/14 from 11-4 pm, outside the Office of Student Life on the 2nd floor of Houston Hall. Each student will be able to purchase up to 2 guest passes, at $20 a pass.

David Carr writes a column for the Monday Business section of The New York Times which focuses on media issues including print, digital, film, radio and television. He also writes for the Media Decoder blog, a showcase for The Times’s extensive media coverage and a window on how the business of connecting with consumers is changing in the digital age. During awards season he writes a daily blog called The Carpetbagger about the Oscars. In addition, he appears in weekly videos that put a New York spin on the red carpet season.

You can check out his bio after the jump.

DAVID CARR – Business Columnist and Culture Reporter

For the past 25 years, Mr. Carr has been writing about media as it intersects with business, culture and government.

He began working at The Times in 2002 covering the magazine publishing industry for the Business section. Before joining The Times, Mr. Carr was a contributing writer for The Atlantic Monthly and New York Magazine. In 2000, he was the media writer for Inside.com, a web news site focusing on the business of entertainment and publishing.

Before coming to New York, Mr. Carr served as editor of the Washington City Paper, an alternative weekly in Washington D.C., for five years. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Carr was editor of the Twin Cities Reader, a Minneapolis-based alternative weekly, and wrote a media column there as well.

Mr. Carr is the author of “The Night of the Gun” (Simon and Schuster, 2008), a memoir of addiction and recovery that used reporting to fact check the past. Much of the data he collected, including videos, documents and pictures, is available at www.nightofthegun.com.

In 2009 Mr. Carr received the Mirror Award for best commentary in traditional media.  The Mirror Awards, established by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2006, honor the reporters, editors and teams of writers who hold a mirror to their own industry for the public’s benefit.

Plus, he’s at the cutting edge of new media, as featured in this (appropriately) YouTube clip:

The more students who take this survey, the better chances we’ll have of getting more and better late night options. So don’t delay! Take it today!

The UA has partnered with the Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women to publicize and promote the Women’s Undergraduate Resource Guide (WURG) to the Penn Community.

Generously funded by the Trustee’s Council of Penn Women, the WURG is a comprehensive guide that contains valuable information on physical and mental health, personal safety, as well as the various resources available to women at Penn.  The WURG also contains a section that introduces the Penn Women’s Center as well as the constituent members of the Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women.  Colorful and easy to read, it provides undergraduate students, especially incoming students, the necessary information to successfully navigate the journey that is Penn.

Download this excellent guide today!

The Philadelphia community is warmly invited to this year’s 9-11 Ramadan Banquet. Please join us for an evening of remembrance as we celebrate an organization that has truly improved our country since 9-11. The event is on Friday September 11th at 6pm in Hall of Flags. Dinner will be served to all who attend.

Details below the jump:

In honor of the fact that 9-11 falls during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the Muslim Students Association is hosting this landmark banquet in collaboration with College Republicans, Penn Dems, Hillel, PRISM, UA, UMC, APSC, PCUW, SAS and many other diverse organizations across campus.

It is no easy task to grow and improve ourselves without forgetting the past, but in the eight years since the world-changing calamity our country has done exactly that. The months immediately following the tragedy were not easy– the victims and the victimized had to persevere in the face of many uncertain tomorrows. Those tomorrows became a little less uncertain through the good will of many federal, local and non-governmental initiatives that have drastically changed communities.

This year, we will honor one such organization that has actively helped America come out stronger from the events of 9-11. The Twin Towers Orphan fund provides long-term assistance to the children of 9-11 victims in the form of educational savings accounts as well as mental and physical healthcare. In doing so, the fund is able to give these young children the chance to lead normal lives. All funds raised at the banquet will go towards this worthwhile cause.

The collaboration of organizations involved in this initiative are working to make this Ramadan Banquet a very special event for the Philadelphia community. In celebration of the fact that 9-11 falls during the Islamic month of Ramadan, we would all like to give our wonderful community an opportunity to sit down with one another, break fast, and enjoy dinner in honor of how far we have come in the years since the horrible atrocity and its aftermath.

The activities include:

Friday, 9/4, from 11pm

Philomathean Society (Philo Halls, 4th floor College Hall, access at East Entrance opposite Fisher Fine Arts)
Join the Philomathean Society, Penn’s oldest student organization and the nation’s oldest collegiate literary society, for an evening of gentle madness, thrilling conversation, impromptu executions, and light refreshments.

Daily Pennsylvanian (DP Office, 4015 Walnut)
Come have desert with the editors and managers of The Daily Pennsylvanian, the daily campus newspaper, and 34th Street, the weekly arts and entertainment magazine. Learn more about joining our staffs, careers in journalism and how Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc., runs.

Muslim Student Association (McClelland Hall in the Quad)
Attention all teetotal freshman – and those who just want to have an amazing Friday night they’ll actually remember! Join the Muslim Student Association for fun, laughs, and a gratuitous amount of exotic Senegalese food and desserts! Come and mingle with your fellow classmates as well as some wise upperclassmen – and compete in a Taboo & Wii tournament!

Penn Environmental Group (College Green)
Come roast marshmallows over fire pits, make s’mores, and listen to (and play) music against the backdrop of stunning images from Planet Earth with the Penn Environmental Group, the umbrella environmental and sustainability group on campus, at their Campfire on the Green!

Queer Student Alliance (LGBT Center)
Come play Queer Quizzo for fabulous prizes at the LGBT Center and snack on Insomnia Cookies all night long. After the competition, stick around for some Guitar Hero and a midnight screening of Were the World Mine, a gay film festival favorite. All are welcome, not just LGBT students! Bring your friends!

Saturday, 9/5, from 10pm

“A Late Night in Houston Hall”
All of these events are in Houston Hall, where PennFest was Friday night!

Penn Student Government (Reading Room, to the west of the main entrance)
Learn about serving your peers while we serve you dessert at the first Penn Student Government mixer. Meet the CEOs of all of government branches, learn how you can join them, and win fabulous prizes!

Latino Coalition (Houston Bistro, to the east of the main entrance)
Dance the night away to a live salsa band accompanying some hot Latin steps performed by Latino Coalition dance groups, with free Latino food!

Panhellenic Council (Perelman Quad)
Interested in Greek life at Penn? The Panhellenic Council, the umbrella group for Penn’s sororities is hosting a nighttime carnival filled with free food, fun and festivities like balloon darts, pie-a-frat-guy and cupcake decorating. Learn about the Greek system at Penn by speaking with some of our members and discovering what other events Panhellenic will be hosting prior to spring recruitment.

Latin and Ballroom Dance (Hall of Flags)
Penn Latin & Ballroom Dance will be presenting a performance showcase of classy ballroom and latin pieces, followed by free Rumba and Tango lessons, where everyone will be taught to dance like the stars! Afterwards, we will be holding a general social mixer, with food provided. Come out and DANCE!

Penn Alumni Student Society (Bodek Lounge)
To welcome the incoming class of 2013, Penn Alumni Student Society (PASS) will host “PASSport to Philly,” a Philadelphia themed night. We will show the movie Rocky which is based in Philadelphia and have classic Philadelphia foods. Also, students can join the raffle for a $50 Steven Starr gift certificate!

Sunday 9/5, from 9.30pm

Hillel (at Hillel)
Hillel’s open late to flip up some fun and satisfy your after-hours cravings with hot-off-the-griddle pancakes topped with strawberries, blueberries, chocolate chips, syrup, and whipped cream. Make it Sunday’s night big event or stop by on your way back to the dorms for good food, better company, and the perfect ending to your first weekend at Penn.