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GBM Minutes 10/21/18
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General Body Meeting

10/21/18

9:00 PM Benjamin Franklin Room, Houston Hall

  1. Roll Call
  2. Open Forum
  3. Reports
  1. President’s Report
  1. Past Administrator Meetings
  1. Vice President’s Report
  1. Steering Group Meetings
  2. Upcoming Meetings
  1. UA Report
  1. External Seats
  2. Communications Team
  3. New/Associate Member Education
  4. Speaker Pro Tempore Position
  5. UA on Locust
  6. Member of the Week
  1. Treasurer’s Report
  1. Emergency Contingency Request: Mex@Penn Convergencias Conference
  1. Secretary’s Report
  1. Airport Shuttles Committee
  1. Discussion Papers
  1. Academic Initiatives
  1. Syllabi on Penn InTouch
  2. Wharton Minors
  1. Student and Campus Life
  1. Kite and Key Virtual Tours
  2. Sophomore Signature Event
  1. Project Highlights
  1. Academic Initiatives
  1. Center of Teaching and Learning Website Updates
  2. CAPS Clinicians Visiting Writing Seminars
  3. MyWharton Student Awareness
  1. Completion Reports
  1. Dining, Housing, and Transit
  1. Tampon Disposal Boxes in 1920 Commons Women’s Restroom
  1. Sustainability and Community Impact
  1. Nursing School Canvas Support
  1. External Seats
  1. Wharton Steering
  2. UC Committee on Facilities
  3. Division of Public Safety Advisory Board
  4. Student Financial Services Advisory Board
  1. Communications


Reports


President’s Report

  1. Past Administrator Meetings
  1. Executive Vice President - October 16
  1. On Tuesday, October 16, UA Cabinet met with Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli and Associate Vice President Tony Sorrentino. We discussed the availability of more affordable dining options in retail locations such as Houston Hall, and the feasibility of expansion of what it would take to expand retail options covered on dining plans. In addition, we addressed the student needs for increased performing arts spaces, cultural spaces, and recreational spaces, and how student groups can think creatively about optimizing existing campus spaces. We also discussed the mechanisms by which students can have input in future campus construction. I hope to be able to follow up on these issues with our Cabinet meeting with Facilities and Real Estate Services on November 5.
  1. International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) - October 17
  1. On Wednesday, October 17, UA Cabinet met with Director Rudie Altamirano, Senior Associate Director Lily Zhang, and Program Coordinator Ryan Villanueva to discuss issues pertaining to international students. We discussed the promotion of ISSS as more than an immigration assistance service, mechanisms to distribute the international student guide in production from last session, and how to prioritize international student space. We also discussed the need for expanded OPT/CPT training and clarification on documentation. Maher Abdel Samad joined the meeting.

Vice President’s Report

  1. Steering Group Meetings
  1. Since last GBM, I have met with Penn First. I will continue reaching out to Steering groups after executive boards turn over in November.
  1. Upcoming Meetings
  1. This coming Tuesday, October 23, we will convene for UA Steering. This meeting will feature the first ever teach-in by Kite and Key Society.
  2. This coming Wednesday, October 24, University Council will convene at 4PM in Bodek Lounge. This meeting is open to the public.

UA Report

  1. External Seats
  1. This past weekend, I appointed a variety of people to external seats. Please be sure to reach out to your contact if you have not done so already.
  1. Communications Team
  1. Congratulations to our new Communications Team!
  1.  New/Associate Member Education
  1. This past Friday I held an education session for members to learn more about the UA and various good skills.
  1. Speaker Pro Tempore Position
  1. Given the timing of appointment, responsibilities of the position, and after discussion with past SPTs and Cabinet I have decided to make SPT a non-cabinet level position. The main responsibility of SPT will be to enhance bonding within the UA and host UA social events. I will release the application after this meeting.
  1. UA on Locust
  1. As a new initiative, the UA will be having a suggestion table on Locust Walk. This is a great way for you to reach out to the student body as well as highlight the great work we have all done! Each committee will get a chance to run the table together.
  1. This week’s member of the week is...

Treasurer’s Report

  1. Emergency Contingency Request: Mex@Penn Convergencias Conference
  1. On Thursday, October 18th, Exec held an emergency contingency vote. Exec voted 5-0-0 to fund Mex@Penn’s Convergencias Conference at $546 for the speaker's’ hotel accomodations. The event occurred on Friday, October 19th.
  2. This brings our contingency fund from $16,090 to $15,544.

Secretary’s Report

  1. Airport Shuttles Committee
  1. The Airport Shuttles Committee is...

Discussion Papers


Academic Initiatives

Syllabi on Penn InTouch

Authored by: Jennifer Ahn

 

Background:

Course registration may be one of the most stressful times for Penn students. Besides the numerical ratings on Penn Course Review and the short paragraph description, students have few resources in predicting what the class will be like. Having the course syllabi uploaded during advanced registration allows students to determine their interest in the class and its required workload. This is even more helpful when students do not get the classes they were expecting.

         Professors are expected to post their syllabi before advance registration. However, only 35% of the classes have their syllabi posted. Wharton, on the other hand, has their own searchable database with syllabi of all classes from previous and upcoming semesters. Syllabi in the College are only available for some of the courses in Econ, Physics and Astronomy, and Math.

         In 2010, the Academic Affairs committee of the UA recorded every single class offered in Spring 2011 and noted the ones without a syllabi. They emailed these professors, over 1000 of them, a letter with steps on how to upload one. By the end of the 2010 calendar year, the number of syllabi more than doubled, from 245 to 507. Starting last year, there has also been an effort to create a syllabi website similar to Wharton’s. Though having the syllabi available has been a concern for Penn students since 2005, the overall progress on this issue has been rather stagnant.

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. How do students usually choose your courses, especially those not related to their major/minor?
  2. Do you notice the lack of syllabi on Penn InTouch? Would students find it helpful if the syllabi were uploaded for advance registration?
  3. Would emailing all the professors again asking them to upload the syllabi be beneficial?
  4. How can we advertise the availability of syllabi?

 

Wharton Minors

Authored by: Elena Hoffman and Charles Curtis-Thomas

Background:

Since many non-Wharton students recruit for business jobs, there is a major appeal behind taking Wharton classes, as they allow for students to gain expertise in a subject matter that would make them more marketable to the private sector. Even though students are welcome to take electives in Wharton (up to four of which can count towards graduation credit), many students want something more: the ability to minor in the disciplines.

 

 As it stands now, only one department in Wharton currently offers a stand-alone minor: Statistics. There are also some inter-school minors such as Consumer Psychology (Psychology and Marketing), and American Public Policy (Political Science and BEPP). However, the problem with these inter-school minors is that because they span across two different colleges, which both (1) increases the number of classes required to complete the minor, and (2) might lead to students only being interested in the subject matter covered by one of the two departments.

 

After consulting with Dr. Abraham Wyner, who runs the Statistics concentration/minor, he explained the reason why most departments don’t offer a minor is because: (a) there would be a larger-than-normal influx of students enrolling in Wharton classes, which would strain teaching/academic resources for actual Wharton students; (b) there would be branding issues, meaning the appeal/prestige behind obtaining a Wharton degree would be devalued if non-Wharton students could claim a Wharton minor; and (c) the primary reason Statistics has a minor is because Stats isn’t inherently a business degree.

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. For non-Wharton reps: Which minors (other than Statistics) do you think Wharton could realistically create (based off the current departments)?
  2. For Wharton reps: Why should certain departments within Wharton not function as a minor?
  3. For everyone: Despite the information I obtained from Dr. Wyner, is it worth lobbying select departments to create a minor?

Student and Campus Life

Kite and Key Virtual Tours
Authored by: Kayla Prezelski


Background:
The Admissions essay “Why Penn?” is more difficult to answer if you are an applicant who has not been afforded the opportunity to visit campus and walk down Locust. Low income, international, transfer students (and others) could benefit from a virtual tour in order to making touring Penn’s campus equally accessible for all students. Previously, Kite and Key attempted to complete a similar project, but it did not come to fruition due to administrative push back. Peer institutions that have options similar to virtual tours usually bring in larger companies to create the video tour, which can be quite expensive.
Currently, Penn Admissions is “revamping” the Penn campus tour, which should be put into effect in January 2019. Kite and Key functions as the student representatives of the Admissions Office and requires formal approval from Penn Admissions to pursue to do projects like this. Additionally, I met with the Julia DiSalvio (President of Kite and Key) last Wednesday and she expressed interest in pursuing the project in more detail. I plan to reach out to Penn Admissions with a complete proposal for the project, but I would like to gather feedback from the UA body about this project prior to drafting that proposal.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What student populations will directly benefit from this project?
  2. What do you think would be important to include in the proposal?
  3. What ideas do you think would be most effective in allowing students to “virtually access” campus (ie. video tour, Skype sessions with admissions/kite and key, Facebook live streaming of admissions events, any other ideas)?
  4. What student groups besides kite and key could we collaborate with for this project?
  5. How could we find funding sources for this project (outside vendors, K&K funding, Penn Admissions, etc)?
  6. Do peer institutions have resources similar to a virtual tour? If so, what are they?

Sophomore Signature Event

Authored By: Charles Curtis-Thomas

Background:

It has been noted by students and administrators alike that there is a lack of a quintessential event for the Sophomore Year. Freshman Year has NSO and Convocation, Junior Year has Hey Day, and Senior Year has The Final Toast and Graduation. As part of the Second Year Experience Program, a group of administrators and students are developing a plan for an event for the entire sophomore class on Friday, March 29, 2019. This document is meant to share some preliminary ideas developed by the planning group so that we can receive comments and feedback.

 

Purpose and concept:

 Name:

Description of the event (preliminary):

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. Are there any holes in the plan that need to be patched?
  2. Does this event have the same feeling as Hey Day, which we are trying to model?
  3. What are ways we can make this event better?
  4. Do you have any name suggestions?
  5. Do you believe it is better to eat before the start of the event or after it is over?

Project Highlights


Academic Initiatives

Center of Teaching and Learning Website Updates

Authored by: Jennifer Richards

I’ve been working with members of different mental health groups like Active Minds and Penn Wellness to suggest additions for good course practices that Center of Teaching and Learning (CTL) promotes on their website. While professors cannot be forced to do anything, the recommendations made by CTL are encouraged. Suggestions include the following:

CAPS Clinicians Visiting Writing Seminars

Authored by: Jennifer Richards

The goal of this project would bring CAPS clinicians into writing seminars once during the semester to introduce and remind students of the mental health resources available at Penn. There is a clear lack of awareness of the support systems Penn has in place especially amongst freshmen. Last week I met with Meeta Kumar, the Deputy Executive Director of CAPS, and she is fully on board with the project and affirmed its feasibility. I will be meeting with Valerie Ross, the Director of the Critical Writing Program, next week to discuss logistics.

 

MyWharton Student Awareness

Author: Sravya Alla

Wharton is replacing Wharton Spike with MyWharton, an all-inclusive platform with canvas integration, in-app messaging, listserv management, event planning, and more. The MVP was released on August 10th, and more features will be released over time. Last week, I talked with Alexander Milne, head of Wharton Computing. He gave me a thorough demo of the site, and we discussed further collaboration on how to advertise the platform to current Wharton students. Wharton representatives and New Student Representatives in Wharton will be discussing next week how best to market the technology.


Completion Reports


Dining, Housing, and Transit

Tampon Disposal Boxes in 1920 Commons Women’s Restroom

Authored by: Armaun Rouhi

After receiving several student complaints about a lack of tampon disposal boxes and stall locks in the women’s restroom at 1920 Commons for months, I reached out to building manager Mr. Paul Forchielli. The supplies were shipped and later installed in the restroom October 16th.

Sustainability and Community Impact

Nursing School Canvas Support

Authored by: George Yang

One of the issues in class is professors struggle with adding links onto the modules tab on Canvas. So students will click a link, but it will be a dead end or show some sort of error. A simple solution to this is putting the pdfs of the files into the files tab on Canvas, as opposed to the modules tab. I reached out to the admin., and they told me that it was not possible since the faculty use the files tab for sharing internal documents. I have stated that if in the future they want to switch to other cloud based sharing mechanisms, they should consider the files option. They have also said they will create in-house training materials to address these concerns and distribute this training to faculty.


External Seats


Wharton Steering

Authored by: Maria Curry

Last Friday, I met for the first time with Wharton Steering since our induction. While the meeting is confidential, the topic was OCR and how to best prepare students for recruiting. The meeting was productive and insightful and I followed up with Director of Student Life at Wharton Lee Kramer with my thoughts on what we discussed and brought the idea up of improving the "Mindfulness Room" in Huntsman Hall to which he seemed receptive.

UC Committee on Facilities

Authored by: Maria Curry 

On Wednesday, I met with the UC Committee on Facilities. A presentation on Penn Connects 3.0 by Mark Kocent, University Architect and Administrative Liaison to the Committee was discussed and a summary of all multi-million and billion dollar real-estate projects being completed within the past three years. Next month's topic is the Penn Climate Action Plan and is focused on sustainability at Penn.

Division of Public Safety Advisory Board

Authored by: Jennifer Richards

On October 3rd, the Division of Public Safety Advisory Board met. Of note, sexual violence is down from 13 reports to 8 reports in the last year while total crime has slightly increased from 441 reports to 483 reports this year. Next, DPS-AB wants the UA to advertise to students to use cheap bikes instead of expensive ones to prevent theft. Next, the Alternative Response Unit was implemented in mid-September and was already utilized 21 times in 2 weeks (out of 33 total calls to MERT). However, it is not a replacement for an ambulance. If you cannot walk, an ambulance will still be called. 4-5 of the calls to MERT resulted in trips to the hospital via ambulances. Next, CAPS has joined forces with a 24 hour hotline trained to respond like CAPS clinicians at all times. This is a remedy for the shortage of CAPS clinicians - people will still struggle to make appointments no matter how many psychologists. When you call CAPS and press 1, you can immediately talk to someone. Our next meeting is December 6th.

Student Financial Services Advisory Board

Authored by: Max Grove

SFSAB met this week and discussed disbursement timelines for refunds, tax advice for international students, and the outside scholarship policy. Refunds should be disbursed as soon as federal verification is completed if you were selected, otherwise it is 10 days before the semester begins.


Minutes


  1. Roll Call
  1. George- AM SCI
  2. Armaun- AM DHT
  3. Kevin A. - AM DHT
  4. Ryan- AM on EI
  5. Jenn- AM on AI
  6. Charles- AM on EI
  1. Open Forum
  1. Elena: SAC elections will be held for the executive board for four vacant positions. If you or your friends are on the board of a SAC recognized group, definitely consider applying.
  2. Michael: This is a great opportunity. I would encourage you all to tell your friends because there is already a lot of UA representation on SAC.
  3. Elena: This week coming week is Greek Week with a lot of great events and cool prizes. Please come out if you have time!
  4. Arjun: I met with the university nutritionist this week, and we agreed that it would be a great idea to advertise the available options better to the student body. Please reach out with any suggestions.  
  5. Jude: AMP is the Accessibility Mapping Project. Students are able to report problems with building accessibility on campus which will be fixed by the university and tagged on a website. The website has been made, and it will hopefully be made into an app. I added the website to my Trello page, so feel free to check it out. They are doing training sessions that UA could be involved with.
  6. Jen: Penn Wellness is holding elections in late November to early December. Most of the board is graduating, so please apply if you’re passionate about mental health initiatives on campus.
  7. Armaun: Next Tuesday I will be meeting with SHS about health concerns within the student body, and I think this would be a great time to strengthen the SHS connection with the UA. I will be bringing up the shuttle project idea at this meeting.
  8. Simon: Friday we will have the Wellness Fair. The UA will have a booth, and I would appreciate if you all would sign up for shifts.
  9. Ben: Last Wednesday, SAAP considered giving the UA external seats so that one UA representative does not have to represent every sustainability initiative. I am wondering if you would want to have this as an option since we have so many sustainability projects on the UA.
  10. Kristen: I think that is a great idea.
  11. Natasha: What were the opinions of the Council?
  12. Ben: Their main concern was that the UA is not primarily sustainability focused, but I assured them that with the addition of the sustainability committee and the amount of sustainability projects within the UA, there would be great input.
  13. Michael: Our primary charge is to lobby, but we are able to co-sponsor events. I never talked about the logistics of this process, but please let me know in advance so that we can run any co-sponsorships by the leadership team for approval.
  14. Kristen: What does the UA provide in a co-sponsorship?
  15. Michael: We provide people essentially. We do not have the budget to fund non-contingency events.
  1. Reports
  1. President’s Report
  1. Past Administrator Meetings
  1. Michael: We met with EVP and AVP this past week. It was a great meeting where we discussed transparency, facilities, and student input. We also met with ISSS and discussed how they are trying to re-establish themselves as a support group for students.
  1. Vice President’s Report
  1. Steering Group Meetings
  1. Jordan: I, along with a few UA members, met with Penn First on Friday. We will probably have a follow up meeting with more of the board members since only Sebastian could attend.
  2. Kev: When is Penn First Plus going to be established?
  3. Jordan: The timeline is undecided. They are searching for a director, but many of the details have not been released to even Penn First. There will be a meeting about it next semester, which leads me to believe that it will not be established in the immediate future, but soon.
  1. Upcoming Meetings
  1. Jordan: We have a UC meeting this week that you all can sit in on, but are not able to add anything. I will report on the results of this meeting after it happens.
  2. Jordan: Steering will be this coming Tuesday. We will have a teach-in from Kite and Key. They will be receiving feedback about diversifying their tour guides and the tour content. I recommend coming; it is from 7:30-8:30p in JMHH 270.
  1. UA Report
  1. External Seats
  1. Brian: I appointed these at 5pm today. I will post the sheet on the Slack. Be sure to reach out to your administrators if you haven’t already.
  1. Communications Team
  1. Sravya: We have 3 new members: Nikhil, Ryan, and Daniel W. They will be helping me market UA and planning the tabling series.
  1. New/Associate Member Education
  1. Brian: This was held this past Friday. It was a fun time!
  1. Speaker Pro Tempore Position
  1. Brian: The SPT is charged with working with the speaker and the role is up to the discretion of the Speaker each year. After speaking with Max and Sahitya, I have decided to make SPT a non-cabinet position. They will be dealing with mostly social planning and events.
  2. Kristen: Is this a permanent change?
  3. Brian: No, it is up to the discretion of the speaker each year.
  4. Jess: Describe the role of the SPT during budget season.
  5. Natasha: The SPT would take the role of presenting the UA budget at the budget meetings in the Spring.
  6. Kristen: Why was the position changed?
  7. Brian: In the beginning of the year and during the summer, the SPT is active within Cabinet because of the updates on progress on projects and social planning for new members. Also after speaking to past SPTs, they did not feel like they had a place on Cabinet.
  8. Michael: The SPT also served as a general member of the UA within Cabinet Admin meetings, but we have been able to fill that with bringing general members to relevant admin meetings.
  9. Janice: Is the position still for upperclassmen?
  10. Brian: Yes.
  11. Elena: If the SPT wanted to attend these meetings, could they?
  12. Brian: No, it would be similar to the Legal Services services position.
  1. UA on Locust
  1. Sravya: We want to do a UA Tabling series on Locust. This would be hosted by committee one day per week over the course of the semester. It is an opportunity to have a channel of open communication between us and the student body.
  2. Kristen: Would this be organized by a specific person?
  3. Brian: Communications team would be responsible for this.
  1. Member of the Week
  1. Jess: This person is amazing and takes initiative! He always updates Trello and I appreciate that! MOTW is Dante!!
  1. Treasurer’s Report
  1. Emergency Contingency Request: Mex@Penn Convergencias Conference
  1. Natasha: We had another emergency contingency request. On Friday, October 19th, Mex@Penn held their Convergencias Conference and requested $546 for speaker costs. The balance of our contingency fund is currently $15,544.
  2. Arjun: Open to the public?
  3. Natasha: Yes they had a FB event
  4. Jude: What make a contingency an emergency?
  5. Natasha: If the event is happening before the next GBM.
  1. Secretary’s Report
  1. Airport Shuttles Committee
  1. Mercedes: Airport Shuttles Committee is Dante, Quinn, and Danny! Stay after GBM for a few minutes so we can discuss next steps!
  1. Discussion Papers
  1. Academic Initiatives
  1. Syllabi on Penn InTouch
  1. Jen: Professors are “required” to upload syllabi before the semester, but with the amount of freedom they have, they often do not. I looked into the history of how this was better enforced in the past, and I am looking to see how this could be improved moving forward. I appreciate any feedback.
  1. Elena: I am impressed with Academic Affairs committee’s tedious work in the past. I think that a more effective way would be to email every professor instead of the ones who have not submitted their syllabus. Do you want the syllabi uploaded pre- advanced registration?
  2. Jen: It would be nice to have the ones from at least the past semester.
  3. Simon: Since I am in the College, I tend to look up classes by sector requirements, then I check to see the rating on Penn Course Review. As a pre-med, I want to know what I am getting into, so having a syllabus is always nice.
  4. Mandi: I don't even know where the syllabi would be located on Penn InTouch. I think it should be at least within the past semester.
  5. Ammar: Wharton professors have a required professor syllabus program. This could be enforced by making syllabus upload a requirement before a class is published on Penn InTouch.
  6. George: Emailing seemed to be very effective. I do not think this should be done manually, but in collaboration with someone in computer science. Wharton Professors do not have a problem  uploading syllabi, but others do because of how this could potentially lead to a misrepresentation of their course or someone stealing their course information.
  7. Kristen: I recommend having students uploading past syllabi to a website. Emailing, in my opinion, is not effective.
  8. Michael: I commend you for going back through annual reports. I think that emailing is effective. I think it would be really helpful to look into advising groups. We are having lunch with the Faculty Senate, and this is on the agenda. Are there specific departments that are not great?
  9. Jen: All non-STEM departments essentially.
  10. Natasha: Language departments are increasingly bad. The student syllabi website could be a better idea, and it would be nice to integrate this into Penn Course Review.
  11. Jordan: The lack of consistency within uploading syllabi in these departments could be caused by the constant change in the humanities. Instead of having an entire detailed syllabus, they could post a grade breakdown and a short description which is helpful.
  1. Wharton Minors
  1. Elena: There is a lot of interest for non-Wharton students to be able to minor in various Wharton departments. There are a lot of credits required to take interdisciplinary minors. I met with Dr. Wyner, and he offered some insight on why minors might not be available in Wharton.
  2. Charles: We are also thinking of adding more interdisciplinary minors as an alternative option.
  1. Quin: I think these should be available for everyone. If we all pay the same amount of tuition, we should have the same opportunities available.
  2. Ben: This is a direct violation of the one university policy that we preach about during Kite and Key tours. I should also be able to get a minor instead of fully transferring into Wharton to study what I am interested in.
  3. Charles: This should be addressed because there is not an option for students who do not want to do a full double minor.
  4. Regan: You could also approach the individual departments that currently offer interdisciplinary minors to see if they would be willing to offer full Wharton minors.
  5. Daniel: The amount of demand for the more popular introductory classes would be even more difficult with the implementation of minors.  
  6. Charles: I dont think this would be an issue; this could potentially help the situation.
  7. Elena: There was a professor in one of the less popular who was open to the idea of this.
  8. Janice: You could lobby instead to transition the minors that are not connected to the prestige of Wharton, like BEPP. This could also relieve the stress of students that have to fully transition into Wharton.
  9. Dante: What is the most requested Wharton minor?
  10. Charles: Consumer Psychology probably, but we do not know for sure.
  11. Simon: Same comment as many others about the interdisciplinary option- I would focus on healthcare management specifically.  
  12. Jess: Minors should be made more available for inclusivity; prestige is not an excuse.
  13. Ammar: Same as Simon’s point- healthcare management is a great place to start.
  14. Charles: There is a limit of 4 classes College students can take outside of the College.
  15. George: The goal here is to have a depth and breadth of education. The reason that the limit may be 4 credits is because most Wharton concentrations are only 4 credits. I also feel like if you are interested in a topic and are able to take the classes, you should take them anyways.
  16. Elena: I share this opinion as well, but when you’re minoring in something, you have more of an excuse to putting it on LinkedIn and resume. It also just shows that you put effort into learning about a subject by minoring in it. In the future we could look into increasing the elective count within the college.
  17. Charles: This could address the problem of prestige associated with Wharton and inequality in respect to the other schools.
  18. Kristen: I am for this. The university pushes unity, but all school are not equal. This is very elitist, and a lot of the comments made have been elitist as well. I don’t think this would increase the amount of students in each class, but it would make the access to these opportunities more available.
  19. Ryan: A lot of the courses in Wharton end up having a lot of overlapping material if you are also taking similar classes in the College. Having a minor could reduce the amount of overlap.
  20. Maria: I don’t think that accounting is the most popular department of study in Wharton because it is really difficult. I want to also reiterate that Wharton students also learn a lot and have a difficult course load. There are also pre-reqs to higher level classes that are often the really popular introductory courses.
  21. Sravya: I tried to do something interdisciplinary, but I realized that each department has their own budget which is why you may receive a lot of pushback on this idea.
  22. Michael: In the college there is an individualized “create-your-own” major option, and I think this could be a great model for a potential individualized minor option. I would also like to say that each major is important in every school.
  23. Daniel: I would definitely look into other resources.
  24. Nick: Look further into implications that comes with this decision like the availability of Wharton logins and GSR access.
  1. Student and Campus Life
  1. Kite and Key Virtual Tours *Tabled*
  2. Sophomore Signature Event
  1. Charles: There is no signature event for the Sophomores. The concept is Hey Day, but kind of in reverse. It will be a blue shirt with the event branding, and on the back it would be a customizable section that says “my academic path” with a spot for your major. We would walk to Hamilton Village, but this is interchangeable. I am open to suggestions for name options. The significance of this event is huge.
  1. Jordan: I like this idea and the symbolism attached to it. Attendance and getting people invested in this event could be a bit difficult for the first event, so make sure you market this very well. You could model this after this after the law 5% party then 95% party.
  2. Charles: Yes, the first event will be difficult, but we are hoping to market it extremely well to have a great turn out. We are really pushing the food and having the band march us down to Hamilton Village.
  3. Ammar: We should focus on mental health as well, and take into consideration students struggling to declare a major.
  4. Charles: The event would be on the last day to declare your major.
  5. Kristen: I think the food should be offered afterwards to retain the most amount of people. A possible name is Declaration Day.
  6. Michael: I would look into old Penn traditions for inspiration. With the idea of flags, everyone could plant their own flag and leave it there until the next year when they’d pick it up for Hey Day. I encourage you to stay away from pushing the idea of making it to a  “halfway point”  because a lot of students do not finish their major in four years, or take a leave of absence which means they have more than four years as well.
  7. Arjun: A potential name is Sophomore Cheer.
  8. Charles: We are marketing this an “instagrammable” event, so we want there to be plenty of opportunities for photos.
  9. Maria: This is a cute idea. You have to go all out! What makes Hey Day cool is the quirky tradition, so do something like that. I think there should be a weird element. There could be professional photographers.
  10. Charles: We are thinking about having an Amazon drone above us taking photos.
  11. Chase: Each major department could hold a mixer for the students within that major. I also think that BBQs are great bonding activities.
  12. Charles: Definitely, but we are trying to find the best location.
  13. Ben: Something that should be emphasized is finding your path. We could do a color celebration similar to that one event in the Spring. (He meant Holi haha)
  14. Regan: You could have the speaker at College Green and then the reception at Hamilton Village in a tent or something.
  15. Elena: Do you think this would decrease the significance of Hey Day?
  16. Charles: This is more of an academic celebration, so it should not take away the excitement for Hey Day.
  1. Project Highlights
  1. Academic Initiatives
  1. Center of Teaching and Learning Website Updates
  1. Jen: They are currently updating the CTL website to encourage professors to be more willing to be more accommodating to students and their needs.
  1. CAPS Clinicians Visiting Writing Seminars
  1. Jen: This was really well received by CAPS, and I will be meeting next week to discuss logistics of implementing this program.
  1. MyWharton Student Awareness
  1. MyWharton is replacing Wharton Spike. Wharton New Student Reps will be meeting to discuss how best to market this new system.
  1. Completion Reports
  1. Dining, Housing, and Transit
  1. Tampon Disposal Boxes in 1920 Commons Women’s Restroom
  1. Armaun: I had friends come up to me reporting that there were no disposal boxes in various bathrooms on campus, so after reaching out to the relevant administrators, this has been fixed. If you come across any issues, let me know because this is an ongoing problem.
  1. Sustainability and Community Impact
  1. Nursing School Canvas Support
  1. George: I tried to get professors to use the files tab on canvas in a different way to decrease the amount of dead ends and broken links, but they use it more as cloud sharing platform for links. They are working to improve this issue with trainings and informational material.
  1. External Seats
  1. Wharton Steering
  1. Maria: This was a really productive meeting. If you ever have anything for me to bring up, please let me know.
  1. UC Committee on Facilities
  1. Maria: We discussed every project being done at penn, so it was very informative. The next meeting will be focused on sustainability, so I will try to bring Ben.
  1. Division of Public Safety Advisory Board
  1. Jen: This board is very interesting. We discuss crime and a lot of safety initiatives related to Penn and West Philadelphia. If you have anything related that you would like for me to bring up, please let me know. The next meeting is December 6th.
  1. Communications