On Wednesday evening, 89 Brown students - a number that surprised Undergraduate Council of Students leaders - filed into Petteruti Lounge to become involved in student government. Because of the council's new open membership policy, which passed a student body referendum in April, they're in luck.
All 89 of those students can now become part of UCS as long as they attend the first meeting of the semester, or two other meetings, and collect 150 signatures.
The new membership policy could have fueled the large turnout on Wednesday, though increased political activity in this presidential election year, UCS President Brian Becker's speech during Orientation and a larger freshman class are other factors to which students attributed the large turnout.
"I did student government in high school, and I heard Brian Becker's speech," said Brian Kelly '12, who also visited the UCS table at the activities fair. "I want to be involved."
Britta Greene '12 said national politics drove her to want to join student government. "I watched the Obama speech at the Democratic National Convention, and I decided that I wanted to make change and know what is going on."
Vice President Michael MacCombie '11 said that though UCS did not table slip in dining halls or put up posters, Becker did send out campus-wide e-mails and make "a few UCS plugs" when he addressed first-years in his speech.
The speech largely Sarah Rutherford '12 to Wednesday's meeting. "I heard about (UCS) first in the welcome speech when the new membership policy was first introduced to us." She added that she wanted to join the governing body to "see what's under the surface."
The new policy is the result of a UCS task force that recommended last spring that the body change how it fills its representative slots.
"It didn't make sense to turn enthusiastic people away," UCS Communications Chair Clay Wertheimer '10 said. He added that he hoped that new members would make an effort to discuss their ideas and hopes for UCS with the people they are asking for signatures.
The purpose of the open membership policy is to allow increased student input and transparency, Becker said. "The whole point of revamping our membership policy was to include more people in the process and to have more student input and to have as many people who are interested in making Brown better be part of the dialogue and be part of the process."
Though UCS did expect increased student interest from previous years, Becker said after Wednesday's meeting that UCS would need to adjust to the unexpectedly large turnout.
Student Activities Chair Ryan Lester '11 said he welcomed the turnout. "I think we'll easily be able to handle it. It's just going to take a restructuring of our order and a lot of work on our part, which we're more than happy to do."
MacCombie said he would just get "a lot more chairs. I don't see it being a huge problem. I'm prepared for having 60, 70 people come back."
"I am fully confident in our ability to manage and to run at any size," he added. "If we have a larger council that just means we'll be able to give more autonomy to each of the committees."
One of Becker's main goals for the year, as outlined at the meeting, is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of UCS by getting the bulk of the debate and logistical work of UCS done in the smaller subcommittees. "We'll be able to do more in terms of actually effecting change on campus," Becker said.
Becker hopes to turn the usually lengthy general body meetings on Wednesdays into shorter 90-minute sessions.
"I envision Wednesdays as a place for the community of Brown to gather to discuss any problems that they are experiencing," Becker said.
Along with UCS' goal of increased transparency, Becker is also interested in increasing cooperation and communication between UCS and the Undergraduate Finance Board, which is in charge of distributing funds to student groups. In addition to Lester, who serves on both UCS and UFB, another member of UCS will be selected as an official liaison between UFB and UCS to try bringing the branches together, which UFB brought up at its Thursday meeting.
