The UPUA general assembly meeting last night was more uneventful than usual, lacking any unanimous voting on extremely important legislation or memorandums that somehow have the word “penis” in them.

At the start of the meeting, State College Mayor Elizabeth Goreham addressed the assembly and told them that “if you were well-organized, students could win every election in this Borough…I encourage you think big.” I’m not sure if that was a shot at the UPUA’s organization or commentary on the apathy of the Penn State student body. I’ll leave that for you to decide.

In President Courtney Lennartz’s weekly report, she commented on the town hall meeting that took place earlier in the day featured Penn State administrators, stating that “they are willing to be transparent with the students.” President Lennartz added that there will be another town hall meeting in March.

Vice President Katelyn Mullen said that she will be meeting with Representatives Anthony Christina and Elias Warren in the near future to begin working on getting the UPUA budget commission, which will review the university budget, back on track. The budget commission hit a snag this summer when issues arose between the UPUA executive board and Warren/Christina, who were the chair and vice chair of the commission respectively.

And now on to everyone’s favorite part of UPUA meeting recaps: confirmations! No need to hide your excitement.

Emily McDonald: Freshman Representative

McDonald boldly said, “student government is my life … I might as well start now.” And what a life you have Emily, but congratulations on the confirmation.

Adi Krupski: Freshman Represenative

Krupski wore UPUA sunglasses to last night’s meeting, a true testament of his dedication to the organization. When asked what Krupski would do first when in office, he said that he would lobby to purchase pizza for meetings. GSA buys pizza for their meetings, and nobody wants to be GSA. I can’t imagine this one would get past steering…but everyone has to dream, Adi!

Congratulations to Krupski as well, who will join McDonald as the two freshman representatives.

Ryan Naylor: Deputy Director of the Department of Records

I’m not even going to being trying to explain what this position is or why this Ryan Naylor fellow wanted to be it, but he was confirmed. Unanimously, of course.

At-Large (and in charge) Representative Elias Warren seized the moment at the end of the meeting, initiating a moment of silence for World Campus student Sean Smith who died in the Libyan attack on the United States embassy last week.

In the words of UPUA Press Secretary Kevin Horne, “Meeting adjourned. Another day of democracy for UPUA.”

Did he mean to say bureaucracy? We’ll never know.

John Zang Tie Rating of the Week (4/5):

It takes some balls to pull off a skinny tie, but John Zang did it. A sleek black die worked well in a room where ill-fitting khaki pants and ties from K-Mart abound. Of course, Zang had to look his best for the mother of State College, Mayor Goreham, so that maybe one day he’ll serve on some bullshit Mayor’s Task Force or something equally Zang-ish.

Elias Warren Quote of the Week:

“It’s J.R. Tolkein week…rock on, and keep doing what you’re doing!”