Facilities Committee Chair Tyler Doppelheuer shocked most of the members of the UPUA last night when he announced his resignation from the assembly.

After giving his committee report, Doppelheuer remained standing to inform everyone of his decision to resign, saying he could not make the Wednesday night meetings this semester. He added, however, that this is not the end of his involvement with UPUA altogether.

“Unfortunately, my graduate class meets Wednesdays,” he explained in an interview after the meeting. “I’ve been missing class to be at the meetings.

“I’m still going to be involved with UPUA, but not as the facilities chair,” he added. “I will be transitioning into a role within the executive committee.”

This resignation comes only weeks after Dan Heitlinger stepped down from his position as Student Life chair. One has to wonder if these representatives have enough time to deal with the commitment required of their positions, especially considering Academic Affairs Chair John Zang mentioned earlier in the meeting that UPUA executives  the Internal Development Committee dismissed his idea to extend UPUA members’ office hours to two hours a week while drafting legislation.

On top of that, the assembly still hasn’t passed a resolution to subsidize graduate and law school test prep classes through the Princeton Review, which was tabled at the beginning of the semester. The debate resulted in the issue being put aside because the University requires that a UPUA member be present at each test prep session because, as sponsors, they would be responsible for damages and messes in the rooms they reserve for such sessions.

And last year, a member was almost expelled from the assembly for missing too many meetings because of timing issues. Of course, these members aren’t entirely to blame. They are busy individuals, many of whom are involved in various other campus clubs and organizations. And the UPUA is a large time commitment. But it’s an important one, not to be taken lightly.

On the bright side, the assembly was able to get some important business done:

• First, they confirmed and swore in new freshman representatives Anand Ganjam and Emily Zheng, as well as swearing in new MGC and NPHC representatives and a few liaisons.

• Representative John Zang introduced legislation that restricts UPUA office hours to the hours between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. (which was later amended to 9 p.m.) and prohibited committees from meeting during those hours. This should help make representatives more available to their constituents. The resolution passed unanimously.

• The assembly also passed a resolution to co-host the International Student Council Gala at the Atherton Hotel. It will be casino-themed (though they obviously won’t be playing with real money) to help bring students from a variety of nationalities together in a comfortable climate (which is no small feat).

Hopefully the remainder of the assembly can make the time commitment required and more meetings this semester will go as smoothly as this one went.