We here at Onward State absolutely feel that everyone should have a good time, but not if it involves breaking the law and can cause serious damage to yourself and others. Police reports show that "In less than three hours State College Police arrested three drunk and dangerous drivers with very high blood alcohol levels early Thursday morning, January 14, 2010, in downtown State College." These men, aged 27 to 66, had blood alcohol levels of at least three times the legal limit of 0.08 each. According to the same report, "there were 908 drunk drivers arrested in Centre County and nearly 400 in State College alone [in 2009]."
That is an extraordinarily high percentage from State College. We may be the number 1 party school in the country, but there comes a moment where it goes from having a good time to becoming a hazard for everyone around you. There have been incidents where drunk drivers have killed students in recent times. At the risk of sounding like a public service announcement, you never know when bad decisions can end your life or another's, so please be safe.
A new social networking site called ineedcollege.com has recently come into our lives… and it’s about as useful as a rusty fork jammed between your toes. Well O.K., maybe it’s not quite that bad but these folks are trying to pull a Lloyd Christmas and tape the head back on a dead bird, then package it to us […]
Keeping with this semester's theme of actually getting things done, UPUA had another eventful meeting last night.
Here's the important stuff to know:
At the beginning of the meeting, a representative from "Tree Swings for PSU" spoke, seeking support for their project. Also, Gail Hurley, Associate VP of Auxiliary and Business Services, gave a presentation on her department and all the aspects of university life that it handles. Hurley played a major role in both the implementation of the new White Loop hours, as well as the recent bandwidth limit increase, and she urged students to become more involved with the department so more changes like these can be made. Mike Wallace also took the floor to give what amounted to a farewell address, saying "it's not you, it's me" in regards to his decision to leave.
Luke Pierce will be serving as Director of Strategic Implementation, basically making sure UPUA's current strategic plan is both feasible and actually followed. If his time with IFC is any indicator, this seems like Pierce is the right man to tackle a project of this magnitude.
President Gavin Keirans discussed the success of the White Loop's first weekend with the new hours. He also shared his plan to get members of the IFC to volunteer as Ambassadors to ride the bus on weekends, per UPUA's agreement with CATA. Whether it is a good idea to leave the Greek community responsible for monitoring students who are predominantly using the service as a "drunk bus" to get home from frat parties remains to be seen.
The budget for UPUA's next big project, an effort to revive Penn State's Freshman Handbook, was approved. The goal is to create a handbook that will be passed out to all incoming Freshmen, and possibly change of campus and transfer students as well. This handbook will serve as a guide to Penn State, including maps, campus organizations and services offered. While this idea seems like a noble on, little effort was made to hide UPUA's secondary objectives with this project - gaining the loyalty of new students to further cement its legitimacy. Members of UPUA will be responsible for every aspect of the guide's creation, and will have absolute control over what information is included and what is left out. The fact that UPUA makes no provision for outside oversight or control is more than a little disconcerting. We'll be sure to bring you more information on this project as it develops.
A resolution was also passed promoting the inclusion of the university's non-discrimination policy in all class syllabi and a change was made to UPUA's budget policy in an effort to better streamline small, time-sensitive projects. Low cost (under $1000) projects will no longer have to be voted on, though they will still be reviewed and submitted to the general assembly.
All in all UPUA, seems to be on a roll so far this semester. Hopefully the momentum keeps up.