UA 48th Session Mid-Year Report

1. Mid-Session Report
48th Session
2020-2021

2. The Undergraduate Assembly (UA) is
the elected, representative branch of
Penn Student Government, charged with
improving life for all students through
lobbying, representation, togetherness,
services, and funding.

3. Table of Contents
Purpose 2
Letter from Executive Board 3
Last Semester’s Advocacy 4
Academic Initiatives Project Highlights 8
Equity and Inclusion Project Highlights 10
Reopening and Response Project Highlights 13
Student and Campus Life Project Highlights 16
Fall 2020 Administrator Meetings 19
Contact Us 23
Project Report 27

4. The purpose of this report is to hold the
Undergraduate Assembly accountable to the
student body and to the promises that we as an
organization make in furthering our goals.
We are committed to working to improve the
student experience at Penn, and we welcome
any and all feedback that students wish to
provide.
2 | Purpose
Purpose

5. Letter from the Executive Board
Letter from Executive Board | 3
Hi friends,
We are so lucky to have the opportunity to serve as the Executive Board of the Undergraduate
Assembly (UA) during such unprecedented times. While 2020 was one of the most difficult years
any of us have ever had to endure, we hope you are all doing okay as we welcome 2021. We are
sending positivity, health, and happiness your way!
As I mentioned in our November Newsletter, Mary and I ran on a platform of Uncompromising
Activism, Effective Representation, Improved Campus Climate, Increased Collaboration, and
Total Accountability. This semester, we aimed to amplify student voices in all of the spaces where
we are privileged enough to hold seats. This always proved to be the most authentic and effective
way to make changes to the student experience.
With your support and in collaboration with many student leaders, we achieved huge wins during
the Fall 2020 semester. A few of these wins included the implementation of three additional
break days, the increased prioritization of the student voice, and the extension of the unlimited
pass/fail policy for the Spring 2021 semester. We will continue to advocate for the establishment
of a plan regarding space for cultural centers, the implementation of a mandatory education on
anti-racism, indigenous visibility, and other biases (including SES, gender identity, etc.), and
for sustained relationships with Civic House for a Civic Engagement Town Hall, with SSAP for a
Climate Town Hall, and with Career Services to develop a Diversity Conference.
The work of the 48th sessoin is far from complete. Ultimately, we are here to serve you! We want
to remind you that we would not be able to do this work with your support, so please communi-
cate with our representatives to ensure your voices are heard. Our emails are always open
(exec@pennua.org), and we look forward to finishing out our term as UA Exec with a bang. :)
Warm regards,
The Undergraduate Assembly Executive Board
Mercedes Owens C21
President
Mary Sadallah C22
Vice President
Janice Owusu C22, W22
Speaker
Nikhil Gupta C22, W22
Treasurer
Carson Sheumaker C23, W23
Secretary

6. Last Semester’s Advocacy
This section serves to highlight a few of the
overarching UA initiatives that were successful
during the Fall 2020 Semester.
The Undergraduate Assembly is thankful
for the partnerships and collaborations that
strengthened the advocacy for these incredibly
impactful projects.
4 | Last Semester’s Advocacy

7. Engagement Days
The Fall 2020 semester has been one of the most physically and mentally
demanding semesters in Penn’s history. The cancellation of fall break compounded with
the unusually large and increasingly difficult course load, unprecedented
financial hardships, and health-related struggles only added to the mental health crisis
that exists on Penn’s campus. For this reason, the Undergraduate Assembly, SCUE, and
many other student leaders pushed for more breaks in the Spring 2021 semester, and we
won.
UA Communications Director, David Jin, authored a Resolution on breaks which
provided context for this concern and was sent to relevant administration. David
conducted in depth research when developing this resolution, finding that in a
typical year, students receive eleven weekdays of break (excluding winter break) while this
year, students have been allotted merely five weekdays of break. We collectively pushed
the need for additional, single-day breaks as an imperative step to maintaining the mental
and physical health and wellbeing of Penn students. Specifically, the Undergraduate
Assembly resolved to demand the University of Pennsylvania to:
1. Recognize the declining mental health of Penn undergraduates
2. Institute two to five planned single-day breaks on Friday or Monday dispersed through-
out the fall and spring semester
3. Encourage academic departments to consider further leniency in their assignments and
examinations
This advocacy resulted in the addition of three Engagement Days! On December 2,
2020, the University announced there will be three additional days with no
classes in the spring semester: Friday, February 12; Tuesday, March 30; and Monday,
April 12. These three days will have neither course assessments nor asynchronous class-
es. Mercedes Owens (UA President), Mary Sadallah (UA VP), and Carson Eckhard (SCUE
Chair External) will continue to work with Dr. Gary Purpura in the Provost’s Office to
ensure that these days serve as an opportunity to rest or to take advantage of opportunities
that advance our community for our Year of Civic Engagement and to interact with faculty
expertise at Penn. We are extremely pleased with this step toward mental health
prioritization on Penn’s campus.
Last Semester’s Advocacy | 5

8. Unlimited Pass/Fail Policy Extension
One of the main topics of discussion in many of our administrator meetings this semester
has revolved around advocacy in favor of the continuation of the Unlimited Pass/Fail
Policy. The main push-back we received in relation to the argument in favor was twofold:
• Academic Progression: particularly for freshmen and more generally for students
in nursing and STEM disciplines
• The Transcript: students focus on the summary of their academic performance
(GPA) instead of focusing on the entire transcript and how the details of this record will
impact their future opportunities
While we acknowledged these concerns, we believed that the potential impact of the
negative mental health of the student body far outweighed the impact of our academic
performance during a global pandemic. Among the many meetings with student advocates
regarding this issue, Mercedes Owens (UA President) and Carson Eckhard (SCUE Chair
External) presented several arguments in favor of the policy during a meeting of the
Council of Undergraduate Deans. The goal was to remind them that while the effects of
COVID are beyond our control, what we do have control over is the management of
emotional reaction and related stressors. Additionally, we heard the concern that some
students thought the policy undermined their personal competitive advantage. We believe
that this is a symptom of the bigger issue of Penn’s pre-professional and competitive
culture that is not something to be proud of. Our main arguments included:
• We do not anticipate a significant improvement in conditions when comparing Fall
2020 to Spring 2021-- students will still be distributed across different time zones and
instruction will still be remote
• The presence of the policy as an option alleviates the perception of academic pressure
and stress which improves overall performance, even if the option is not actually used
• It is not fair to allow the virtual format to be a detriment to someone’s future success
• Many students do not elect to take a course P/F, and those who do typically elect to
only take one course P/F
On December 17, 2020, the university announced that they will extend the policy to the
Spring 2021 semester. This was a huge win for those involved in this advocacy, including
Michiyah Collins (FGLI Dean’s Advisory Board) and Archit Dhar
(Engineering Dean’s Advisory Board), members of PSG Steering, Tori Borlase (UA
Academic Initiatives Committee Director), key administrative leadership, and
countless others!
6 | Last Semester’s Advocacy

9. Economics Major Reclassification
The reclassification of the economics major has been a heated debate for many
years both within the academic department itself and within the undergraduate
student community. After many years of little to no progress, there was a new-
found hope following the reclassification of the BEPP and Behavioral Economics
concentrations within Wharton paired with the arrival of a new perspective as Dr.
Diebold assumed his new position as the Economics Department Chair. In August
2020, UA member Edward Jiang created a group of student leaders who pushed
this initiative forward by doing research on peer institutions, drafting emails to
Dr. Diebold, and compiling lists of considerations in favor of reclassification.
On December 3, 2020, the University of Pennsylvania Economics Department
announced that its undergraduate major would be re-designated with a STEM
CIP code for students graduating in the Spring of 2021 and beyond. This decision
was a huge win for the international student community who is now eligible for
the 24 month STEM OPT extension. The change also reflects the evolution of the
discipline towards a greater emphasis on statistical and mathematical methods,
recognizing the overall rigor of the major at Penn.
As with all UA Initiatives, the collective advocacy of many leaders across the
University enables us to make the most progress. In addition to UA members
Edward Jiang, Sahitya Mandalapu, and Mercedes Owens, advocates included
Linda Zou, members of the Economics Major Advisory Board, the administrators
and faculty within ISSS, and Professor Francis Diebold, the Undergraduate
Economics Department Chair.
Last Semester’s Advocacy | 7

10. Academic Initiatives
Tori Borlase C’22
Committee Director (ai@pennua.org)
The Academic Initiatives Committee (AI) is
devoted to enacting change within the academic
space at Penn. AI is using student insight to work
on projects that will have a long-lasting impact. The
three themes that the committee is focusing on this
year are (a) increasing transparency in
academic-related areas; (b) increasing the
availability of course policies and information for
students; and (c) bolstering the remote learning
environment. Don’t hesitate to contact AI’s
Committee Director Tori Borlase with any
questions or concerns at ai@pennua.org
8 | Academic Initiatives

11. IFC x PVP Training Bylaw
Allan Cate C’22
Allan has engaged with the Inter-fraternity Council and Penn Violence Prevention this fall in drafting an IFC
bylaw to mandate annual Sexual Assault Prevention trainings for Penn fraternities. These trainings will be
facilitated by the Penn Anti-Violence Educators, of which Allan is a part. The bylaw has been drafted and will
soon be reviewed by PVP staff. The bylaw is intended for implementation in Spring 2021.
Penn Math Department Initiative
Amy Wu C’24, Ananya Singhal SEAS’24, Chiadika Eleh SEAS’24, Shan Shan Liang W’24, Xavier Shankle
W’24
Shan Shan, Amy, Ananya, Xavier, and Chiadika have been working to improve communication between
the Penn Math Department and students and update transcripts to accurately reflect the material taught
in math classes (e.g. MATH114 should say Multivariable Calculus). Because of how important mathematics
is and how many students take a mathematics course while at Penn, Amy, Shan Shan, Ananya, Xavier,
and Chiadika have conducted surveys, researched the naming policies of math courses at peer institutions,
contacted the Registrar in an effort to properly relabel math courses, and reached out to professors in
the Mathematics Department. They will be meeting with Professor DeTurck soon to further discuss this
initiative.
Physical Education Classes for Credit
Jennifer Richards, C’21, SAS’21
In conjunction with Penn Campus Recreation, we have been working on getting physical education classes
for credit. A summary of findings from a survey and the salience of the project was submitted to Chloe Cole.
They are really excited by the results and have the resources to do it since many of their exercise classes and
spaces go underutilized, but COVID definitely put a halt on things. Hopefully, a younger member of the UA
will be able to carry this project on once COVID is over.
Standardised Course Unit Extension Protocol
Kshitiz Garg W’22 ENG’22
Kshitiz has been working with WAB and Wharton Administration to push for a standardized form for Course
Unit extension. He met with various stakeholders and administrators to understand why the process to
request for CU extension is still inefficient. It seems that there’s some room for discussion required with
Wharton administrators to discuss what the form will look like, and whether it’ll affect the personalized
communication Wharton wants to ensure between its advisors and students. Kshitiz will be meeting with
more faculty and advisors earlier next year to brainstorm how the personalized communication can be
retained while still making the whole process efficient and justified for the students.
Preparing For Spring 2021
Ryan Bush C’22, Thomas Kaupas C’22, Tori Borlase C’22
This project is all about preparing for another virtual semester for Spring 2021, in all aspects, such as
academics, financial aid, social interaction, equity and inclusion, and mental wellbeing. We are liaising with
other members of the UA as well as other student leaders and organizations across campus to highlight
the main issues of the Fall 2020 semester and develop tangible and easily-implemented solutions. We are
meeting with admin and prioritizing agenda issues with divisions such as SRFS, Career Services, and CUD to
ensure our initiatives are given proper prioritization and institutional support to be implemented university-
wide.
More Tutors in Engineering
Sai Mamidala, SEAS’23
Working on publicizing the tutoring program in engineering and encouraging more tutors to sign up for
engineering courses
Academic Initiatives | 9

12. Equity and Inclusion
Kristen Ukeomah C’21
Committee Director (ei@pennua.org)
The Equity and Inclusion Committee (EI) addresses the
needs of mis- and underrepresented groups in the Penn
and greater Philadelphia community. This committee
works closely with constituents like the first-generation
low-income community, the 6B minority coalition, and
relevant administrators to identify and eliminate the
barriers that impede students from getting the most
out of their Penn experiences. Projects are often relat-
ed to accessibility, equity, and sensitivity. Reach out to
Kristen at ei@pennua.org with questions and sugges-
tions.
10 | Equity and Inclusion

13. Comprehensive Wellness Guide
Joan Dartey C’23
Joan is looking to expand the existing wellness guide to reflect the changes that have been made by
both campus partners and student organizations to support Penn affiliates during such unprecedented
times. She has contacted and made note of the changes in services that have been implemented by
the University departments in charge of offering students, staff, and faculty immediate help. Her next
course of action will be to contact the relevant wellness-focused student groups to determine what
support they’re offering Penn affiliates during this time. She is focused on distinguishing between
services offered on-campus and off-campus. After gathering the appropriate information, she plans
to update the existing wellness graphic, and hopes to disseminate the new wellness guide in the early
months of the spring ‘21 semester.
Civic Engagement Town Hall
Carmen-Kay Harrison Montoya C’24
Carmen-Kay has been communicating with the directors of Civic House to plan a university-wide
town hall over the Year of Civic Engagement, community service, and the identities and intentions
we bring to our service. Bringing in co-sponsors such as the Greenfield Intercultural Center,
Paideia Program, and Netter Center, we aim to hold an all-inclusive moderated discussion and
audience reflection on the steps one needs to take before engaging in service for our underprivileged
communities. Focusing on our intentions of service, our time commitments, our experiences
and identities, and the community’s needs, we aim to raise awareness on how our identities and
experiences can help us selflessly and inclusively serve the greatest and truest needs of our neighbors.
Increased Access to Online Publications for the Penn Community
David Garnick C’23
After realizing nearly all of his professors have assigned readings from the Philadelphia Inquirer, the
New York Times, and the Washington Post, David decided to initiate this project because students
do not have easy access to these required publications in some cases. This is not the case at our peer
institutions, and even at Penn Law, where students are given access to these publications freely.
Greater access to these publications would aid not only in academic engagement, but also for civic
engagement, allowing us to become active citizens who are knowledgeable about day-to-day current
events and dynamics in our globalized world. The goal of this project is to prompt Penn to give
access to these highly regarded publications in order to provide an inclusive and engaging academic
experience.
Dismantling the Morton Collection
Josias Zongo C’24, Daniela Uribe C’24
The Morton Collection is a collection of 1200 human skulls from people of African descent and other
minorities which is currently housed inside the Penn Museum. These skulls were collected by a Penn
alum called Samuel Morton, who studied race science in the school of medicine. Morton used his
findings to justify American slavery and racism. The Penn Museum continues to house and claim
ownership over these artifacts which are explicitly linked to the university’s historical ties with racism.
This project, therefore, seeks to permanently dismantle the collection.
Equity and Inclusion | 11

14. Mid-Semester Feedback Forms
Neha Krishnaswamy SEAS‘23
Neha has been working with the Center for Teaching and Learning as well as the Academic Deans in
order to implement mandatory mid-semester feedback forms to be sent out by professors. Although
it is currently difficult to make these forms mandatory, Deans have agreed to strongly encourage
professors to send mid-semester evaluation forms starting next semester to ensure that students can
provide feedback on their professors’ performance as well as possible ways to improve their course for
the remaining half of the semester.
Funding for Pre-Professional Minority Groups on Campus
Ralph Tamakloe SEAS’22
Ralph is seeking ways to create a funding reserve solely for minority groups on campus trying to
attend national and regional pre-professional conferences and other professional development events.
Dining Hall Donation Expansion
Sarah Ramadan C’23 and Joel Olujide W’23
Sarah and Joel have been spearheading a campaign to expand the current dining hall food donation
program. This program currently collects excess food from Penn’s dining halls to subsequently donate
to local charities and food banks that have been vetted by Penn. Through meetings with various
leaders of Penn Hospitality and Penn Dining, Joel and Sarah have determined that the most efficient
course of action is to work with the head chefs directly. Presently, they are working with Chef Khori
of Houston Market to ensure that Houston can join the donation program when they reopen in the
spring.
Improving Club Recruitment
Prabh Dhaliwal W’24
Prabh has been working with past and current UA and SAC members to address the issues of
unnecessary exclusivity, toxicity, and discrimination present in the club recruitment process at Penn.
His goal is to address the exclusivity of recruitment and make clubs more accessible to interested
students as well as address the implicit biases promoting inequity within recruitment proceedings.
He has met with John Casey to discuss his work in the UA on club recruitment and is planning on
meeting with Janice Owusu and other SAC members in the near future to discuss next steps, logistics,
and best practices to maximize the impact of reform.
Equity and Inclusion | 12

15. Reopening and
Response
Gabriela Montes C’23
Committee Director (rr@pennua.org)
The Reopening & Response Committee (R&R), which is
normally known as the Dining, Housing, and Transit
Committee, will address the changes brought on by
the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee will address
University communications, inadequate food options,
housing concerns, testing and test result reporting,
administrative office inefficiencies, and maintaining
services like Penn Rides. R&R will also focus on
encouraging measures like social distancing
and mask-wearing. Feel free to contact R&R
Committee Director Gabriela Montes with
any questions or concerns at
rr@pennua.org.
13 | Reopening and Response

16. Reclaiming of Breaks for the Spring
David Jin C’23
David authored the Resolution on the Reclaiming of Breaks for the Fall and Spring, which was passed
unanimously by the Undergraduate Assembly. Together with the Executive Board and Cabinet of the UA,
David attended a number of meetings with Administrators, including President Gutmann and Provost
Pritchett, to advocate for the addition of breaks during the fall and spring semesters upon the cancellation
of Fall Break and truncation of Spring Break. The University has agreed to add three additional days of
break during the spring semester.
Career Services Newsletter
Regan Mizrahi C’22
Regan has been working with Barbara Hewitt to help career services compile a list of pre-professional
organizations that they can distribute opportunities to. He met to understand the functionality of their
newsletter more accurately, identify weakness with the current platform/algorithm, and is currently
working to find ways to promote the customization feature (among others) on Career Service’s weekly
newsletter for various student opportunities.
Employee Support and Benefits
Jonah Schenk C’23
Jonah has been working to find out about how Penn is supporting its employees throughout the pandemic.
Penn has a unique responsibility as the largest employer in all of Philadelphia. At the beginning of the
year, Penn was opaque about their employee’s futures: “While we truly wish that we could say with
certainty that there will be no furloughs or layoffs, there is, unfortunately, too much about the future
that we simply do not know.” Jonah has met with Penn Benefits Director Susan Sproat to get an in-depth
look at how Penn supports its employees through its benefits programs. Now, he hopes to work alongside
Caroline Li to get answers to questions of future furloughs or layoffs in the coming semester and beyond
and if so, how they’ll be supported through benefits/severance packages throughout the rest of the
pandemic.
Labor Equity
Caroline Li C’24
This project is intended to ensure that Penn’s response to the COVID changes in employment is equitable
for their employees. Areas of concern include adequate COVID protections (including sick leave and
hazard pay), stark differences in conditions for contracted dining workers, and the percentage of
furloughed workers who will be rehired for the spring. Contacts have been set up with the DP, union
representatives for the Teamsters, Bon Appetit’s dining worker union, Penn Business Services, and Penn
HR. Next steps include getting further questions answered by admin, and advocating for specific policy
changes prioritizing COVID protections.
Religious Holiday Policy
Caroline Li C’24
This project is to make getting time off for religious holidays easier. Areas of concern included the two
week period at the beginning of the semester when students are recommended to tell professors about
their intent to celebrate specific religious holidays, Jewish and Christian holidays being the only ones
given mandatory school-wide no homework and/or time off, student groups scheduling events on major
religious holidays, and raising student and professor awareness of the existing policy. Contacts have
been set up with both the administrator that manages the calendar holiday policy, the Chaplain’s Office,
and PRISM, Penn’s umbrella organization for religious groups. Next steps include potentially surveying
students about areas of concern, initiatives to inform students and teachers of the religious holidays
policy, and potentially revising the process that students go through to get time off from professors.
Reopening and Response | 14

17. Freshmen Mental Health Awareness Project
Tristan Maslar W’24, Pranav Tadikonda C’24, and Nicholas Quo SEAS’24
These three are in the process of surveying the class of 2024 on mental health. They have been working
to increase marketing of overall health resources available at Penn. Their goal is to ensure that every
freshman knows exactly where and how to access Penn’s mental health resources, with an eventual mental
health guide.
Daily Texting Mental Health Check-ins
Tristan Maslar W’24, Pranav Tadikonda C’24, and Nicholas Quo SEAS’24
Tristan, Pranav, and Nicholas have begun setting up work using the data from the survey project on a
texting service. Currently in the process of laying out the foundation, the service will be an optional sign
up for students of the University, and will send daily morning and evening texts asking the participant
how they are feeling on an overall scale. Based upon the response given by the user, using predetermined
numerical values, the service will respond giving resources fitting the participant’s need. The three hope to
have the service up during the beginning of the Spring ‘21 semester, and are looking right now for funding
options.
UA Freshmen Committee
Tristan Maslar W’24
The collective of freshmen in the Undergraduate Assembly met up to establish a committee to represent
the Class of 2024 best in these troubling times. The goal of this committee is to be a voice of the class to
the administration, as well as to the rest of the Assembly. The committee meets regularly on Fridays and
is currently working on an open forum to ease the worries of their peers and show better transparency
to the rest of their class on the UA projects at hand. The group has already proved their contributions in
giving freshmen voices to the UA on topics such as the pass/fail deadline and breaks. Temporarily, the
committee hopes in the Spring of 2021 to work closely with other planning committees to set up class-
wide functions and promote greater unity amongst the 2024 students.
Increasing Access to Mental Health Resources in SEAS
Akshitha Vijay SEAS’23
Akshitha has been working with SEAS Wellness and other wellness-oriented clubs to increase access
to mental wellness resources for the engineering student body. She collaborated with SEAS Wellness,
CAPSAB, and Penn Wellness to hold a university-wide Wellness Week Challenge, which had many
participants. Now, she will be working on introducing town halls, biweekly wellness workshops, and
alumni panels to promote wellness awareness and provide students with the resources to feel confident in
their wellness at Penn.
Expansion of Tutor Supply for High-Demand Courses
Hiba Hamid C’23
Hiba has been working with the Weingarten Center to address the problem of inadequate tutor supply
on campus for courses which present a high demand for tutoring services. She meets regularly with the
Associate Director of the Tutoring Center to discuss ways to increase the number of people who apply to
become tutors. She has been involved in the creation of several info-graphics to spread the word about
open tutoring positions for the 2021 spring semester, and has been actively engaged in creating long-term
solutions for the shortage as well.
Reopening and Response | 15

18. Student and Campus
Life
Sarthak Jain SEAS ‘22
Committee Director (scl@pennua.org)
The Student and Campus Life (SCL) Committee
prioritizes issues facing not only the student body,
but also student interaction with Penn’s campus. This
year, there will be an added focus on advocating for
students in the virtual environment. Examples of
initiatives include, but are not limited to, mental
wellness, extracurricular activities, political
engagement, sustainability, and student
interactions with faculty and administrators.
If you have any questions or concerns
pertaining to the student life of Penn
undergraduates, please do not hesitate
in cotacting the SCL Committee Director
Sarthak Jain at scl@pennua.org.
16 | Student and Campus Life

19. Identity Inclusion
Jonathan Scotto C’22
Jonathan has been working within the Student and Campus Life committee, contacting NGSS, LGBT
Center, and other campus resources to discuss implementations regarding respecting student identity
through academic and social spaces at Penn. For NGSS, Jonathan is working towards a structural
implementation allowing for students to designate their name, name pronunciation, pronouns, and
gender on the new student software that will replace PennInTouch. For LGBTC and other CRCs,
Jonathan is working towards building a space for discussion between admin and students in order
to reach the goal of identity inclusion for underrepresented groups on campus. Jonathan is hoping
to have the relevant stakeholders at a meeting in January to ensure student voices and concerns are
taken into account with these structural changes. Overall, the fall semester was crucial in having the
foundational discussions within the UA Body, NGSS, and the LGBTC. In the spring semester, the goal
is to ensure not only the structural implementation through NGSS, but to also inform SAC-funded
student groups about identity inclusivity in their recruitment processes and day-to-day operations.
That hopefully will take form in an “Identity Inclusivity Guide” co-authored by CRCs on campus.
Socially-Distant Outdoor Spaces on Campus
Jonathan Scotto C’22
Jonathan has been working with the Student and Campus Life Committee, the UA President
(Mercedes Owens C’21 president@pennua.org), Office of Student Affairs (Katie Bonner hanlonkj@
upenn.edu), and Facilities and Real Estate Services (Mark Kocent mkocent@upenn.edu) in order
to discuss the implementation of socially-distant outdoor spaces with an completion date of March
2021 to the end of the spring 2021 semester. Jonathan hopes to bring student mental wellness and
physical health to the forefront of these conversations. Previously, the outdoor spaces constructed
on campus were not widely used and student concerns revolve around the issues of proper heating
systems, the production of student “spaces” versus “tents,” and the overall communication of these
spaces to students. As we approach the completion date of March 2021, Jonathan is eager to explore
creative solutions, such as creating remote CRC’s for students to come together on campus, creating
pop-up spaces, and/or fostering overall excitement regarding the initiative.
Improving the Club Recruitment Process
Chiadika Eleh SEAS’24; Ashley Song W’24
Ashley and Chiadika have been working with several Penn clubs and students to address the
unnecessary stress that surrounds the university’s club recruitment environment. They both have
accumulated meetings with John Casey, one of the minds behind the PennClubs website, and
Wharton Council to discuss their streamlined application website. Ashley and Chiadika have also
met with Kayla Klein-Wolf, Penn’s Student Activities Council Communications Director to refine
current Club Recruitment Policies and target issues that are currently unaddressed and also spoke to
PennLabs about the possibility of a school-wide, streamlined application form.
Student and Campus Life | 17

20. Increasing Capacity and Availability of CAPS
Nyair Locklear, N’23
Nyair is working with the CAPS and SHS advisory boards to better student wellness, specifically in
the online format, but this will be altered depending on when campus reopens. Currently students are
not utilizing the CAPS services available, even though students have expressed concerns that would
fall within the jurisdiction of a certain program. Her focus has been on the hiring of more population
specific CAPS professionals (i.e. men, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+), distribution of program resources while
virtual, and a resource tool to connect students with the appropriate wellness resources.
School of Nursing Admin and Student Communication
Nyair Locklear, N’23
Nyair has been working with School of Nursing (SON) admin and student groups to address a myriad
of student concerns by attending monthly nursing leadership meetings. Topics include quality in-
person clinicals during the pandemic, course policies, student wellness, clinical transportation,
inclusion of student voices in decision making, and open/streamlined communication.
Update of Job Opportunities Website
Makaeel Sheikh, C’23
Makaeel has been working on providing a more organized website for students to find remote job
opportunities as well as internships, volunteer work, and research.
Penn Global Expansion
Tari Clement, W’21
Tari has been in contact with Penn Global to understand student global engagement post-pandemic.
She has been advocating with Penn Global to expand their options for students at Penn, but also
recognizing that students may not be aware of their rights and opportunities to studies, research, or
work abroad. Therefore, she has been working on plans to educate the student body for their own
opportunities once unanimous travel is approved.
18 | Student and Campus Life

21. Fall 2020 Administrator
Meetings
The following is a list of the meetings that
UA Exec and Cabinet had with various
administrators along with a summary
of what was discussed.
For clarity, UA Cabinet includes the
Executive Board.
Administrator Meetings | 19

22. UA Cabinet
cabinet@pennua.org
Office of Social Equity and Community
On Wednesday, October 14th, Mercedes and Mary met with Rev. Chaz Howard, Vice
President of the Office of Social Equity and Community. The division is charged with
fostering communications around social justice initiatives separate from the work
done by Civic House and the Netter Center. They act as in-house consultants, helping
Penn understand how to better internally handle conversations about social equity
(policing, PILOTs, etc.) as well as educating on and elevating current initiatives
happening on campus. We discussed his goals for this year, as well as opportunities for
collaboration with the UA. Specifically, they discussed at length how to best implement
the mandatory Anti-Racism education.
Career Services
On Friday, October 16th, UA Cabinet met with Career Services. They had a productive
discussion on a range of topics including job security in the pandemic, diversity
in on campus recruiting, and the utilization of the peer career advising program.
Moving forward, the UA will help them distribute surveys and a guide on remote job
opportunities. Additionally, they hope to collaborate in offering genuine opportunities
to diverse job candidates in the form of a Diversity Conference.
Career Services
On Thursday, October 22nd, Mercedes, Mary, and UA first-year associate member,
Carmen Harrison Montoya, met with Dr. Beavers and Dr. Grossman from Civic
House. They discussed their shared goals of increasing genuine civic engagement and
decreasing performative activism. An opportunity for collaboration presented itself
in the form of a Town Hall on Civic Engagement that they hope to have in the spring
semester.
Provost’s Office
On Friday, October 23rd, Cabinet met with Provost Wendell Pritchett, Deputy Provost
Beth Winkelstein, Associate Vice Provost for Education and Academic Planning Gary
Purpura, and Vice Provost for University Life Mamta Accapadi. Topics discussed
included increased space for cultural houses, sustaining the contribution to the Black
community, food insecurity among FGLI students, as well as mental health, student
workloads, and the lack of breaks.
UA Cabinet Administrator Meetings
20 | Administrator Meetings

23. Penn First Plus
On Friday, October 30th, UA Cabinet met with the leadership of Penn First Plus. They
discussed potential solutions to address food insecurity, reduction and transparency
regarding course costs, housing and COVID support in the Spring semester, and more
centralized communications for the FGLI community.
Vice Provost for University Life (VPUL)
On Friday, October 30th, UA Cabinet met with VPUL, Dr. Mamta Accapadi. They
followed up on the topic of space for cultural houses, ways to encourage participation
in faculty and staff bias trainings, renovations to existing restrooms to include gender
neutral options, and tangible solutions-- not just programming-- to address the mental
health crisis and the impact of University communications.
International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS)
On Friday, November 7th, UA Cabinet met with ISSS. They talked about ways to
support the international community and received a few suggestions from Dr.
Altamirano (Rudie) on how to be more involved in their advocacy efforts.
Business Services
On Friday, November 7th, UA Cabinet met with Business Services. They talked about
a variety of topics, including the housing exception form process and dining hall food
donations, but the topic they spent the most time on was the Penn Rides on Request
app. Moving forward, the UA will provide insight into how Penn Transit can optimize
their app to better support the behavior of Penn students.
Penn Violence Prevention (PVP)
On Wednesday, November 11th, UA Cabinet met with PVP. They discussed support and
resources for the freshman class in the Spring, mandatory PAVE training for all IFC
chapters, and how the UA can better support survivors. Moving forward, the UA hopes
to provide insight into the freshman perspective as PVP works to create a guide with
actionable resources.
Penn Wellness Leadership
On Tuesday, November 17th, UA Cabinet met with Wellness Leadership, including
Dr. Dubé. They discussed changes to testing capacity for the spring semester, including
expanded testing hours, additional testing locations, a switch to saliva testing, and the
reintroduction of email notifications for test results. They also talked about updates to
the COVID-19 dashboard, including publicizing violations to the campus compact and
tangible mental health initiatives looking toward the spring semester. An additional
meeting took place on Tuesday, December 8th. Mercedes, Mary, UA member Nyair
provided insight into decisions surrounding the Campus Compact for the Spring 2021
semester.
Administrator Meetings | 21

24. Executive Vice President’s Office (EVP)
On Wednesday, November 18th, UA Cabinet met with EVP Carnaroli. They discussed
Division of Public Safety reforms, spaces for cultural centers, renovations to gender
neutral restrooms, and the addition of socially distanced outdoor spaces. EVP Carnaroli
and AVP Sorrentino were receptive to our critical feedback and will be following up
with some of their main takeaways and developing action items based on our meeting
notes in order to improve as a division.
President Gutmann and Provost Pritchett
On Wednesday, November 18th, UA Cabinet met with President Gutmann and Provost
Pritchett. They followed up on spaces for cultural centers, substantive communications,
mental health in the absence of breaks, and how they can better value the student
voice. In terms of immediate positive response: the Provost’s office has moved to
include student leaders in some of the reopening decisions for the Spring semester,
they are seemingly open to continuing to collaborate with student leaders on non-
health related university communications, and they are allies in the fight to push
faculty to be more empathetic toward the current student experience, recognizing that
breaks will not be effective if the workload does not change as well. They would also
like for students to take more time to appreciate the positive changes on campus. They
UA will continue to push for action and support on their side.
Student Registration and Financial Services (SRFS)
On Friday, November 20th, UA Cabinet met with SRFS. They discussed the proposal
authored by Mercedes Owens to combat food insecurity and will have a follow-up
meeting to further discuss logistics of the program. Additionally, Thomas Kaupus
joined Cabinet at this meeting to highlight his project on transfer student financial aid.
Lastly, they discussed waiving course costs for Penn undergraduates applying to Penn
graduate programs which we learned would be more impactful to approach from the
lens of Admissions.
Faculty Senate
On Friday, November 20th, UA Exec met with the Faculty Senate. They learned about
current internal evaluations of racism which are outlined in the 2020-2021 report
from the Senate Committee on Faculty Development, Diversity, and Equity (SCFDDE).
Exec will also be updating PAGE in the hopes of developing a proposal for faculty bias
training that aligns with the current plans of the Senate. They also spent some time
discussing effective methods to motivate faculty members to be more accommodating
of student wellbeing as we look toward the Spring semester. Moving forward, the UA
will be talking with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and working with the
Undergraduate Deans and Department Chairs to ensure student well-being is the focal
consideration.
Administrator Meetings | 22

25. Contact Us
UA Cabinet and UA Member Directory
23 | Contact Us

26. UA Cabinet
UA Executive Board
Mercedes Owens C21
President (president@pennua.org)
Mary Sadallah C22
Vice President (vp@pennua.org)
Janice Owusu W22 C22
Speaker (speaker@pennua.org)
Nikhil Gupta W22 C22
Treasurer (treasurer@pennua.org)
Carson Sheumaker W22 C23
Secretary (secretary@pennua.org)
The Executive Board can be reached at exec@pennua.org
UA Cabinet
Tori Borlase C22
Academic Initiatives
Committee Director
(ai@pennua.org)
Gabriela Montes C23
Reopening & Response
(rr@pennua.org)
Kristen Ukeomah C21
Equity and Inclusion
Committee Director
(ei@pennua.org)
Sarthak Jain SEAS22
Student and Campus Life
Committee Director
(scl@pennua.org)
Jonathan Scotto C22
Speaker Pro Tempore
(spt@pennua.org)
David Jin C23
Communitications Director
(communications@pennua.org)
UA Cabinet | 24

27. UA Member Directory
Academic Initiatives
Name Email Address Phone Number
Tori Borlase, Committee Director ai@pennua.org (919) 561-3863
Carson Sheumaker, Exec Liaison secretary@pennua.org (615) 487-5858
Allan Cate allcate@sas.upenn.edu (808) 203-8824
Amy Wu amwu3@sas.upenn.edu (717) 856-1623
Ananya Singhal ananyasi@seas.upenn.edu +971 (559) 257-689
Jennifer Richards* Rjenny@sas.upenn.edu (917) 873-1426
Kshitiz Garg kshitizg@wharton.upenn.edu +91 (989) 633-2901
Ryan Bush ryanbush@sas.upenn.edu (954) 815-3705
Sai Mamidala mamidala@seas.upenn.edu (302) 438-4266
Thomas Kaupas kaupas@sas.upenn.edu (757) 615-9450
Thomas Kyong tkyong@sas.upenn.edu (72) 577-9909
Xavier Shankle xshankle@wharton.upenn.edu (678) 414-1739
Reopening and Response
Name Email Address Phone Number
Gaby Montes, Committee Direc-
tor
rr@pennua.org (832) 929-1633
Nikhil Gupta, Exec Liaison treasurer@pennua.org (331) 330-5718
Akshitha Vijay akshv@seas.upenn.edu (916) 792-9467
Caroline Li cli24@wharton.upenn.edu (781) 600-7102
Shan Shan Liang shan9318@wharton.upenn.edu (423) 741-6660
Hiba Hamid hfhamid@sas.upenn.edu (952) 994-6409
Jonah Schenk jrschenk@sas.upenn.edu (773) 750-9233
Louisa Qiu yujiao@wharton.upenn.edu
Pranav Tadikonda tpranav@sas.upenn.edu (301) 569-3688
Regan Mizrahi*** rmizrahi@sas.upenn.edu (201) 364-5015
David Jin jindavid@sas.upenn.edu (682) 238-9298
Tristan Maslar tmaslar@wharton.upenn.edu (618) 409-0051
Nicholas Kuo nickkuo@seas.upenn.edu (973) 727-5296
Alfredo Wolfermann alfredow@sas.upenn.edu (786) 564-8869
Equity and Inclusion
Name Email Address Phone Number
Kristen Ukeomah, Committee
Director
ei@pennua.org (202) 812-5849
Mercedes Owens, Exec Liasion president@pennua.org (731) 307-5503
Joan Dartey jdartey@sas.upenn.edu (267) 939-9975
Carmen-Kay Harrison Montoya harricar@sas.upenn.edu (281) 906-1848
25 | UA Member Directory

28. David Garnick dgarnick@sas.upenn.edu (610) 717-6627
Joel Olujide jolujide@wharton.upenn.edu (240) 598-8211
Josias Zongo josias@sas.upenn.edu +233 57 887-4447
Neha Krishnaswamy nehakris@seas.upenn.edu (201) 774-7453
Oliver Stern ostern@sas.upenn.edu (305) 632-5011
Ralph Tamakloe tamralph@seas.upenn.edu (757) 318-8618
Sarah Ramadan sramadan@sas.upenn.edu (201) 620-0063
Prabh Dhaliwal prabhd@wharton.upenn.edu (412) 207-8739
Daniela Uribe dauribe@sas.upenn.edu (610) 715-5044
Student and Campus Life
Name Email Address Phone Number
Sarthak Jain, Committee Director scl@pennua.org
Mary Sadallah, Exec Liaison vp@pennua.org (609) 742-7737
Ashley Song acss@wharton.upenn.edu (931) 572-8962
Isabella Hassett ihassett@sas.upenn.edu (561) 573-3313
Jonathan Scotto** jscotto@sas.upenn.edu (305) 773-5688
Makaeel Sheikh msheikh@sas.upenn.edu
Nyair Locklear nylock@nursing.upenn.edu (910) 691-8327
Tari Clement*** tariclem@wharton.upenn.edu (404) 337-8696
Chiadika Eleh chiadika@seas.upenn.edu (416) 949-6711
Thomas Consentino tcos02@sas.upenn.edu (412) 915-9746
UA Member Directory | 26
Legend
* Speaker Pro Tempore
** Legal Services Coordinator
*** Budget Committee

29. Project Report
The following is a digest of all of the projects that
are currently being pursued by UA members. For
more information on each project, feel free to
contact the UA members listed beside that project.
If you have suggestions for UA projects,
let us know at pennua.org/suggestions.
27 | UA Project Report

30. Project Report
Academic Initiatives
• IFC x PVP Training Bylaw - Allan Cate allcate@sas.upenn.edu
• Penn Math Department Initiative - Amy Wu amwu3@sas.upenn.edu, Ananya Singhal
ananyasi@seas.upenn.edu, Chiadika Eleh chiadika@seas.upenn.edu, Shan Shan Liang
shan9318@wharton.upenn.edu, Xavier Shankle xshankle@wharton.upenn.edu
• Physical Education Classes for Credit - Jennifer Richards Rjenny@sas.upenn.edu
• Standardized Course Unit Extension Protocol - Kshitiz Garg kshitizg@wharton.upenn.edu
• Planning For Spring 2021- Ryan Bush ryanbush@sas.upenn.edu, Thomas Kaupaus kaupas@
sas.upenn.edu, Tori Borlase ai@pennua.org
• More Tutors in Engineering- Sai Mamidala mamidala@seas.upsaenn.edu
Equity and Inclusion
• Comprehensive Wellness Guide - Joan Dartey jdartey@sas.upenn.edu
• Civic Engagement Town Hall - Carmen-Kay Harrison Montoya harricar@sas.upenn.edu
• Increased Access to Online Publications for the Penn Community - David Garnick dgarnick@
sas.upenn.edu
• Dismantling the Morton Collection - Josias Zongo josias@sas.upenn.edu, Daniela Uribe dau-
ribe@sas.upenn.edu
• Mid-Semester Feedback Forms - Neha Krishnaswamy nehakris@seas.upenn.edu
• Funding for Pre-Professional Minority Groups on Campus - Ralph Tamakloe tamralph@seas.
upenn.edu
• Dining Hall Donation Expansion - Joel Olujide jolujide@wharton.upenn.edu, Sarah Ramadan
sramadan@sas.upenn.edu
• Improving Club Recruitment - Prabh Dhaliwal, prabhd@wharton.upenn.edu
Reopening and Response
• Reclaiming of Breaks for Spring - David Jin jindavid@sas.upenn.edu
• Career Services Newsletter - Regan Mizrahi rmizrahi@sas.upenn.edu
• Employee Support and Benefits - Jonah Schenk, jrschenk@sas.upenn.edu
• Labor Equity - Caroline Li cli24@wharton.upenn.edu
• Religious Holiday Policy - Caroline Li cli24@wharton.upenn.edu
• Freshman Mental Health Awareness - Pranav Tadikonda tpranav@sas.upenn.edu, Nicholas
Kuo nickkuo@seas.upenn.edu, Tristan Maslar tmaslar@wharton.upenn.edu
• Penn Math Department Initiative - Amy Wu amwu3@sas.upenn.edu, Ananya Singhal ananya-
si@seas.upenn.edu, Chiadika Eleh chiadika@seas.upenn.edu, Shan Shan Liang shan9318@
wharton.upenn.edu, Xavier Shankle xshankle@wharton.upenn.edu
• Daily Texting Mental Health Check-ins - Pranav Tadikonda tpranav@sas.upenn.edu, Nicholas
Kuo nickkuo@seas.upenn.edu, Tristan Maslar tmaslar@wharton.upenn.edu
• UA Freshmen Committee – Tristan Maslar tmaslar@wharton.upenn.edu
• Increasing Access to Mental Health Resources in SEAS - Akshitha Vijay akshv@seas.upenn.edu
• Expansion of Tutor Supply for High-Demand Courses - Hiba Hamid hfhamid@sas.upenn.edu
Project Report | 28

31. Student and Campus Life
• Identity Inclusion - Jonathan Scotto jscotto@sas.upenn.edu
• Socially-Distant Outdoor Spaces on Campus - Jonathan Scotto jscotto@sas.upenn.edu
• Improving the Club Recruitment Process - Chiadika Eleh chiadika@seas.upenn.edu, Ashley
Song acss@wharton.upenn.edu
• Increasing capacity/availability of CAPS - Nyair Locklear nylock@nursing.upenn.edu
• School of Nursing Admin and Student Communication - Nyair Locklear nylock@nursing.
upenn.edu
• Update of Job Opportunities Website – Makaeel Sheikh msheikh@sas.upenn.edu
• Penn Global Expansion – Tari Clement tariclem@wharton.upenn.edu
• Penn Math Department Initiative - Amy Wu amwu3@sas.upenn.edu, Ananya Singhal
ananyasi@seas.upenn.edu, Chiadika Eleh chiadika@seas.upenn.edu, Shan Shan Liang
shan9318@wharton.upenn.edu, Xavier Shankle xshankle@wharton.upenn.edu
29 | Project Report

32. Office of Student Affairs | 200 Houston Hall
www.pennua.org