The 14th Assembly of the University Park Undergraduate Association convened for the sixth meeting of the semester Wednesday night in the HUB. Members updated the elections code and passed legislation to fund various initiatives like World Cultural Week.

To kick off the meeting, Senior Director of Veterans Affairs and Services Eugene McFeely delivered a special presentation about the veteran population at Penn State and specifically the programs and services that are available to help it. He mentioned the new Student Veteran Center in the Ritenour Building, in addition to Penn State’s Military Appreciation Week — the largest of its kind in all of the Big Ten.

Next, Interim Mayor of State College Ron Filippelli spoke to the Assembly and offered an important message. “You’re all citizens of State College,” Filippelli said. “The most important word in a democracy is citizen…there’s a lot of added value you bring to the Borough.”

Filippelli encouraged members of the Assembly to get as involved as possible — run for office, sign up for various committees, etc — in order to fulfill their obligations as citizens.

He also mentioned the fact that he will be working with At-Large Representative Genevievre Miller to hold office hours in the HUB in the foreseeable future, and encouraged everyone in the room to partake in the upcoming census and to do so in State College rather than their respective hometowns.

After a brief caucus breakout, Daniel Risser was confirmed as an At-Large Representative and was officially sworn in as a member of the 14th Assembly.

Legislation

In the first order of business of the night, Bill #24-14: Funding for World Cultural Week, passed unanimously. UPUA will allocate more than $3,000 to fund various events between February 24 and 28. One such event is the State College Sampler, which will be held in the Noontime Lounge on the 28th. Those in attendance will be able to indulge in a variety of cultural food from local restaurants like Yallah (blog approved, baby), India Pavilion, Big Bowl, and Cozy Thai.

Bill #26-14: Continuation of the “Know Your Rights” Academic Student Rights Campaign, also passed unanimously. Members of the Assembly will use social media as a means to disseminate information about students’ academic rights, including grade remediation, updates to syllabi, course drop, examinations, absences, and student privacy. They will also conduct four days of tabling in the HUB between March 2 and 5 to further spread this message.

Next, the Assembly approved funding for two speaker events during Sexual Violence Awareness and Prevention Week, which is slated to take place in April. Reema Zaman, an award-winning speaker and recovery coach, will be speaking in Heritage Gall April 6. Meanwhile, civil rights attorney and activist Mónica Ramírez will speak on April 13 in Freeman Auditorium.

Members also passed legislation to send two Fullington buses to Harrisburg for Advocate Penn State Capitol Day on March 24, stand in solidarity with #NotAgainSU protesters, and offer support for Climate Crossover Week — an Awaken State initiative that “encourages faculty members to dedicate one of more classes during the week of April 13th to April 20th to teach material pertaining to climate change, with a specific emphasis on its intersection with the course’s subject matter,” according to several UPUA releases.

In the last portion of the meeting, members engaged in more heated discussion regarding updates to the elections code. Ultimately, Policy #05-14 passed, therefore permitting future candidates to campaign together. However, endorsements during elections still will not be allowed.

The meeting finally adjourned at 11:45 p.m. See you next week, folks.