For the Undergraduate Student Government Senate, diversity has been at the forefront of this semester's discussion, amid an effort by students to recall the body.
In October, the Senate released a list of 15 recommendations it felt would help increase student awareness about varying cultures.
The recommendations were, in part, a response to the university's five-year Framework to Foster Diversity, which ends in December.
South Halls Sen. Ace Ekhtiarzadeh chaired the committee to develop the proposals.
"It's a question of educational value. Different facets of diversity expose you to things that you normally wouldn't see," he said.
The first proposal to be implemented is a monthly multicultural roundtable, in which student groups and administrators will discuss predetermined issues.
"One thing that's always missing is dialogue between student groups and administrators, and that's why things don't get done," Ekhtiarzadeh said.
While this year has seen farless controversy than in the past, a group calling itself the Student Empowerment Alliance announced it would to try to recall the USG executive and legislative branches in October.
The group, whose membership included at least five senators, said it was concerned about a lack of progress by USG, including failure to lobby to receive higher state appropriations and Vice President Takkeem Morgan's September bicycle theft charges.
The recall was never officially mentioned at a USG meeting, but senators had varying opinions on the effort.
"This is a serious organization, but this isn't real politics. It's something ... we do because we care about Penn State. That's why I got into student government, not because I wanted to get into real politics," East Halls Sen. Irene McKenna said.
USG President Ian Rosenberger said he would support the students' decision if the referendum passed.
He added that he was concerned about the cost of a special election: about $1,000 of USG money, which would normally be used to fund student programming.
"The actions of few do not reflect the opinions of many other people," he said.
The Student Empowerment Alliance postponed the recall on Oct. 23, citing "increased productivity" by USG.
They warned, however, that they had collected the necessary 1,000 signatures to proceed with the referendum, and would do so if they felt progress stopped in the future.
The group added it was still unhappy with tuition lobbying, but expressed hope that new executive governmental relations director Frank Camarota would organize lobbying trips in the near future.
Town Sen. Brian Battaglia, a member of the group, considered the attempt a success.
"It pushed people into action and really, that was the ultimate goal -- to get USG working, whether through a recall or by somehow getting the current people to start," he said.
Money became an issue for the Senate at its Oct. 21 meeting.
Some funding, including $366 for the USG Supreme Court, was denied because the USG budget contained a little more than $1,560 for two weeks.
The USG budget was over-allocated, creating a temporary budget deficit situation until the money was transferred into its account.
USG's funds were tied up in University Park Allocations Committee and Associated Student Activities because of system changes and paperwork. The rest of USG's budget, $8,866, was deposited into its account and available for Tuesday night's meeting.
