In his report at the University Park Undergraduate Association meeting on September 8th, UPUA President Christian Ragland shared his plans to attend a public hearing on Monday, September 13th by the State Senate Majority Policy Committee. During the hearing, the committee will discuss their proposal to raise the Pennsylvania underage drinking fine from $300 to $1,000.

Pennsylvania State Senator Jake Corman (R-Benner Township) will introduce legislation for this sharp increase in the coming months, in the hopes of curbing underage drinking in university towns like State College, where the majority of crimes involve alcohol, and lessening the financial burden of tax payers. Corman argues that, since the fine was first instated in the 1970s, it’s time that the price of underage drinking was increased to reflect the times.

Ragland will attend the meeting along with Interfraternity Council President Max Wendkos. Ragland stated that he wants to make sure that, if this increase is instated, the money is used to help students by being spent on programming and education about the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption. Ragland believes that if the fine is going to be increased that dramatically, “There needs to be a plan or structure to use [the money].”

Also discussed at the UPUA General Assembly Meeting:

Fresh Fest: The event was a great success, thanks to the hard work of Colleen Cannon (Student Involvement and Diversity Chair), Ali Cook (Programming Chair), and Rebecca Alt (Freshmen Outreach). Applications for UPUA Freshmen Representative are due this Friday (9/10)

GPS Tracking of the White and Blue Loops: Plans to work on facilitating GPS tracking of the buses that are in progress.

Second Annual “Every Lion is a Shrine” Sexual Assault March: To be held at 11:30 a.m. on September 30th.

Non-Voting Student member of the State College Borough Council: Plans are progressing and outlook is “positive.”

Campus lighting: Plans to increase lighting around campus in needed areas are in the works.

Subsidized graduate school testing: President Ragland has spoken with Kaplan and Princeton Review about subsidizing the cost of LSAT, MCAT, GRE, etc. testing for Penn State students, and is very positive about realization of this goal in the near future.

Confirmation of UPUA leaders: Christina Boggs for Subdirector of UPUA THON, Nick Coleman for Director of Commonwealth Outreach, and Nilraj Cheatsama for Multicultural Greek Council Representative.

The next UPUA General Assembly meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 15.