The 18th Assembly of the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) met again Wednesday night for another regularly scheduled meeting. UPUA had a busy schedule on the agenda and confirmed and swore in two members and passed four bills and one resolution.

President Nora O’Toole and Vice President Giselle Concepcion addressed UPUA’s involvement in student affairs regarding the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine. O’Toole informed the assembly that she and Concepcion attended the Gaza Teach-In on Monday. She reiterated that UPUA is a bipartisan organization that represents all students at Penn State.

With no special presentations, the agenda moved on to old business.

Old Business

Two new members were confirmed and sworn in on Wednesday night. After a brief speech and questioning section, Isabella Dreger was sworn in as the health and human development representative alongside associate justice Samuel Akangbe.

New Business

The first piece of legislation on the agenda was Resolution #6-18: Support for PSU Votes and Civic Discourse. This resolution affirmed UPUA’s commitment to the PSU Votes initiative of registering students to vote and providing voting resources along with educating students about civic engagement.

Resolution #6-18 passed unanimously.

Bill #22-18: Justice & Equity Identity Roundtable was the next piece of legislation. The bill requested $360 in funding for UPUA’s Committee on Justice & Equity to hold a roundtable to discuss how to better support identities on campus to ensure proper representation. The funds will provide catering for the event from Roots Natural Kitchen downtown.

Bill #22-18 passed unanimously.

Bill #23-18: Funding for Fall 2023 Light Up The Night was up next. The bill provided funding for UPUA’s “Light Up The Night” event on Monday, November 6, which brings awareness to bike accidents and provides safety precautions for cyclists in the State College area.

UPUA’s 14th assembly passed Bill #4-14 to purchase 500 sets of bicycle lights for students and promote Centre Bike’s “Light Up The Night.” As there are leftover lights from previous years, only a sponsored Instagram ad and pamphlets were proposed in the bill for purchase.

Bill #23-18 requested $50 in funding. The bill passed unanimously.

Bill #24-18: Funding for Fall and Winter Break Lyft Subsidies was next. The bill requested $1,500 in total for 100 Lyft codes at $15 each to be divided between fall and winter break for students wishing to travel to the University Park Airport.

The fall break code is available for use from November 16 to 21 to leave campus and then again from November 25 to 27. The winter break code is available for use from December 9 to 17 to leave campus and again from January 5 to 7 to return for the spring semester. It isn’t known how the codes will be dispersed.

Bill #24-18 passed unanimously.

The final piece of legislation on the agenda was Bill #25-18: Funding for 2023 Get Out The Vote Events. The bill provided $288.70 in funding for UPUA to host the 2023 Get Out the Vote events on campus for November’s Pennsylvania local and state elections. The events aim to educate about local leaders running for election and encourage students to vote.

Bill #25-18 passed unanimously.