The 17th Assembly of the University Park Undergraduate Association met again Wednesday evening for another regularly scheduled meeting. During the meeting, funding for the PSU Votes Debate, “Who Gets the Latino Vote?” event, and Advocate Penn State advertising was awarded.

The assembly meeting began with Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Training in partnership with the Global Engagement Office.

Following the training and reports from UPUA President Sydney Gibbard and Vice President Carter Gangl, the 17th Assembly had a quick caucus breakout and moved into new business.

New Business

Three bills and two UPUA policy changes were brought to the floor this week. The first was Bill #13-17: Funding to Support PSU Votes Debate.

Bill #13-17 proposes $520 to cover the rental fee for Heritage Hall, which held the annual PSU Votes debate between College Democrats, Republicans, and Independents in an effort to educate the student population on voting issues ahead of the upcoming midterm election in November. The debate took place on Monday, October 17.

Bill #13-17 passed unanimously.

Next up was Bill #14-17: Funding to Support the “Who Gets the Latino Vote?” Event. The event partnered with Penn State’s Latino Caucus to focus on issues Latino students face and their relation to voting in the upcoming midterm election, encouraging civic engagement among these students.

The bill proposes $40 of funding for coffee that was served at the event, which took place earlier in the evening.

Bill #14-17 passed unanimously.

The final bill brought to the floor was Bill #15-17: Funding for Advocate Penn State Social Media Awareness Campaign, which will fund prizes for students who subscribe to the Advocate Penn State Campaign that connects Penn State students with elected officials.

The prizes funded include Amazon gift cards, Penn State Student Bookstore gift cards, and a Penn State men’s basketball season pass. Additionally, some funding goes to the printing of marketing materials to display in the HUB, costing a total of $209.

Bill #15-17 passed unanimously.

Policy Change #02-17, regarding UPUA’s bylaws, was also discussed. The policy change motioned to redefine external event attendance requirements for representatives and to rename the facilities committee to the campus operations committee. The policy change passed unanimously.

The final piece of new business was Policy Change #03-17, regarding UPUA’s constitution. Policy Change #03-17 allows the elections commission to have more involvement in writing election code. This policy also passed unanimously.