Topics

More

UPUA Approves PASS Liaison, Finishes Meeting In Less Than One Hour

The University Park Undergraduate Association’s tenth assembly met for its weekly meeting Wednesday night with only one piece of legislation on the agenda. The table of executives looked empty — most notably missing was President Emily McDonald, who joined the meeting later because of an exam.

The only new business on the agenda was Policy 4-10, establishment of a Pennsylvania Association of State-Related Students Liaison. The assembly spent a majority of the last meeting talking about PASS and ways to reach out to the state legislators about the budget impasse.

At-Large Representative Ryan Valencia presented the policy to the assembly. “Under Article IV of the newly adopted PASS bylaws, each individual institution is tasked with providing a Caucus Chair, which will lead the delegation during conferences and who will serve as an officer of the organization,” the legislation reads.

The vote did not decide on the student liaison, rather, it simply established the position. The vote passed unanimously with nominal discussion.

President McDonald came in as the vote passed and apologized for being tardy. She gave her report as soon as she sat down and discussed the potential room and board increases in the coming years. “This isn’t final but it’s what they’d like to see in the coming years,” she said. She’ll be meeting with her fellow student body presidents to go over the rates with housing directors.

“I’m really proud to see everyone come out and have really great support,” President McDonald said, regarding the tweets and letters to Governor Tom Wolf last week. “But I don’t want to see this stop there. I want to see that momentum.

Vice President Ford shared with the assembly that the bike share program will be delayed by as much as a year.

The liaison reports were all finished within five minutes, and the only notable information was the fact the Association of Resident Hall Students is hosting a screening of the new Star Wars movie later in the month.

The assembly was more than halfway through the agenda by 8:10 p.m. With no old business to attend to, the assembly moved to a five-minute caucus breakout.

There were a few interesting points and updates made in the committee reports.

Speaker Emily Miller said “the light agenda today does not reflect the agendas of the future.” She also reminded the assembly their terms are not over until the first week of April and they are responsible for their jobs until then.

Representative Alex Shockley gave an update on the ice cream truck in his facilities committee report. Right now they are looking on nailing down logistics with cost with things like labor, gas, and maintenance of the truck, to name a few.

Ryan Valencia shared some interesting statistics on the PASS social media campaign in his governmental affairs report. More than 30,000 accounts saw UPUA’s tweets and they got 280 retweets on one tweet alone. Their efforts were also covered by the local CBS affiliate.

“It was misconstrued to say our campaign was only towards Governor Wolf,” he added in response to a Daily Collegian op-ed.

To conclude the meeting, the assembly moved into different work sessions.

The regular meeting adjourned at 8:54 p.m. We’ll take Speaker Miller’s word that the agendas of the future will be more robust. But don’t let the headline fool you, I’m a big fan of the shorter meetings. Until next week, UPUA.

Your ad blocker is on.

Please choose an option below.

Sign up for our e-mail newsletter:
OR
Support quality journalism:
Purchase a Subscription!

About the Author

Penn State Football Recruiting Staff Navigating Tricky College Football Landscape

“We’re all trying to feel out the landscape to try and figure out how to advance in the new world of college football that involves NIL and compensation for the players.”

What To Do In Indianapolis For The Big Ten Championship

From the Roar Tour Pep Rally to the Big Ten Fast Fest, there’s lots to do in Indianapolis before the Big Ten Championship this weekend.

Penn State References You Didn’t Catch In ‘Wicked: Part I’

Did you know that Stephen Schwartz wrote the musical “Wicked” about Penn State?

113kFollowers
164kFollowers
62.7kFollowers
4,570Subscribers
Sign up for our Newsletter
Other posts by Megan

Wilkes-Barre Campus Closed Due To Bomb Threat

A threatening message was discovered on a bathroom door in the campus’ Science Center that warned a bomb was in the building, and it would detonate some time before noon on Friday, March 4.

Graduate School Revokes Doctorate For Plagiarism

Penn State Professor Receives Presidential Honor