Dear Penn,

It is with enormous pleasure that I announce that MATT AMALFITANO will serve as the very first President of the Undergraduate Assembly! In addition, MARK PAN will serve as the very first Vice-President of the UA.

In addition, your UA Governing Body for 2010-2011 will consist of:

UA Executives

MATT AMALFITANO – President of the UA (president@pennua.org)
MARK PAN – Vice-President of the UA (vp@pennua.org)

SAS Representatives

Webley, Alec
Shuster, Jake
Dubler, Grant
Cruz, Chris
Sexauer, Zeke
Jakubowski, Andrew “A.J.”
Monfred, Jon
Young, Amanda
Shahin, Mo
Chen, Mike
Lum, Andrew
Levenstein, Michael
Ip, Cynthia
Pak, Albert
Huberlie, Ali
Bloch, Adam

Wharton Representatives

Houston, Ryan
Cheng, Faye
Horsley, Hunter
Pierce, Michael

SEAS Representatives

Shaeffer, Emily
Sternberg, Matt
Ernst, Tyler
Staniforth, Andrew

Nursing Representative

G.J. Melendez-Torres

It has been a privilege and a pleasure to serve you as your UA Chairman this past year. We now begin the process between transitioning between the old leadership and the new.

This process will conclude at the UA Transition Meeting, which will be held at 6pm on April 11 in Huntsman 350. There, Matt and Mark will officially take office as President and Vice-President of the UA, and the UA will proceed to elect the Speaker, Treasurer, and Secretary that will round out the UA Executive Board. The public is warmly invited to attend!

Best wishes,

Alec Webley

Outgoing UA Chair

The UA has released its 2009 Annual Report, a comprehensive overview of its work over the last year in general and last semester in particular. This website will be updated in the next weeks with the complete text of the Report, but check out the consolidated and printable publication here!

I have the privilege of announcing to you that based on official returns from the Nominations and Elections Committee, the two referenda to amend the UA Constitution were approved.

Question 1 (Direct Election of UA Chair, etc):

YES: 1770 (77.02%)

NO: 528 (22.98%)

Total turnout: 2298 (23.06 percent of the student body)

Question 2 (Representation, Technical Changes, etc):

YES: 2032 (89.52%)

NO: 238 (10.48%)

Total turnout: 2270 (22.78 percent of the student body)

This means that the UA will, effective next academic year, be led by a President and Vice-President elected in the Spring from the entire student body, while the UA General Body will elect a Speaker to chair its meetings and manage its internal operations.

In addition, the UA will expand to 37 members next year, including one more College student and one more Engineer (the other 2 new members are the UA President and VP who have ex officio seats), and, in Fall 2010, Transfer students will be able to vote and run for the UA with other new students for the first time.

There are many more changes, so check them out! Please find a copy of the newly revised UA Constitution here (link: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgfz5j3b_1441gnkfx9g7). Also please find a copy of the new UA Bylaws here (link: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgfz5j3b_1443dv434rhq). These are both available – as always – on our website at www.pennua.org.

Over the next three months, the NEC and the UA will work diligently to transition to the new system. You will be getting updates from the UA and the NEC through email and the DP about procedures for our first directly elected student-body-wide UA President race!

Finally, I wish to congratulate Natalie Vernon, Zac Byer, Dennie Zastrow, the Class Presidents, and the many, many people who worked hard to make this a reality. Thanks are also due to the NEC, who ran an appropriately fabulous turnout campaign, members of the UA for their scrutiny and democratic spirit, and the many others inside and outside of student government who contributed to this moment.

Thanks are due most, of course, to you – our constituents! I hope that the new structure of the UA will build upon the great achievements of the old, becoming a better representative body, and delivering more tangible change than ever before.

Many thanks, and best of luck with Finals,

Yours sincerely,

Alec Anthony Webley

The 37^th and last Chairman of the Undergraduate Assembly

This Sunday, the UA will be considering a Bill to reform the UA Constitution in two significant ways:

1. Providing for the election of the UA Chair and VC External from the whole student body rather than just the UA,
2. Substantially updating and streamlining the Constitution to make it more flexible and operational.

This is a major initiative, one which will reverberate throughout the student body for years, and so we seek as much public comment as possible before its consideration on Sunday. Next Sunday will be open to the whole student body – as all our meetings are – and you will have a chance to have your say!

If the UA votes in favor of the Bill, a referendum will be called for the week of Monday December 7. The NEC will have more details on the referendum closer to the time. To be approved and incorporated into the Constitution, a change would require 20% of the entire undergraduate student body to vote (2084), with an absolute majority (50%+1, or 1043) of students voting in favor.

You may also find it useful as a reference to see what the UA Constitution or UA Bylaws would look like if both referenda were approved.

Dear everyone:

It is with great pleasure I announce that the following individuals have been elected to the UA to represent the Freshman Class:

Jake Shuster (UC Seat)
Chris Cruz
Zeke Sexauer
MJ Gitter
Kasia Klasa
Hunter Horsley
Alex Amaniel
Michael Levenstein
Lulu (Lucia) Xiong

I look forward to working with all of these fine freshmen – and their many peers already part of the UA as AMs – in our eternal quest to improve our University!

Congratulations to them and everyone who ran!

Alec
UA Chair