The authority of the University Park Undergraduate Association has recently come under scrutiny, but the powers of both the UPUA and Council of Commonwealth Student Governments increased significantly oflast night, when the UPUA passed legislation to appoint students to the Student Technology Advisory Committee.

Students will now officially have input on the IT Fee Board. A deal struck between CCSG and University administration created the Student Technology Advisory Committee, which will be made up of eight students: three appointed by CCSG and UPUA, respectively, and two from the Graduate Student Association, pending ratification. Student representatives already sit and vote on the Student Activity Fee Board, but there was no structure even for student input on the IT fee before this measure. Though the STAC is only an advisory role, the more of a voice students have in the University administration, the better.

The UPUA also passed a policy three years in the making which will allow of its Board of Arbitration to select two members on the University Hearing Board, which is part of Judicial Affairs. Not sure if they’ll stack the deck with State Patty’s Day supporters, but we’ll keep you posted on that one.

“We discuss a lot how much governing UPUA actually does,” said On-Campus Representative Mark Cannon. “This certainly qualifies as governing.”

Next item on the list (hopefully): tackling the University’s closed budget.