Administrators from the Division of Student Affairs met in a closed meeting yesterday with students chosen by Student Affairs Vice President Vicky Triponey to discuss forming a new programming board to exist alongside the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC).

UPAC, a student-run organization, allocates funds to student groups for programs, activities and initiatives.

"The majority of our programming efforts on campus have been initiated and coordinated by our student groups, and they have done a good job," Stan Latta, senior director of unions and student activities, said. "There are some areas that could be improved."

Latta said even in the presence of a new programming board, UPAC would continue to allocate funds to support an organization's mission.

"The programming board will actually contract, plan and organize programs," Latta said. "They may also collaborate with a student organization that has an existing program."

The function of the programming board would be to identify areas where Penn State has not been strong in programming and to address those needs.

Latta said the meeting would be divided into two "working groups" that Triponey had devised. One group has the responsibility of defining the new board's purpose, forming its constitution, recruiting students to lead the board and considering possible programs. The other group is responsible for planning how the student activity fee would be allocated.

Full-time Penn State students pay $53 per semester for the student activity fee, which accounts for 75 percent of UPAC's funds. The other 25 percent come from "general funds."

Judy Albin, senior associate director of unions and student activities, said the groups had not yet determined if the programming board would affect the amount of money charged to students for the student activity fee.

"It's all sort of in the drawing board stage," Albin said, adding that the groups hoped to report their final recommendations to Triponey by April so a new board could be in place by the fall.

"The idea of this group is to look at the allocation process and see how we can make it more robust, in the sense of, 'are the funds being used now in a way that is best for all student organizations?'" Albin said.

From Nov. 28 to 30, representatives from Ohio State University, the University of Georgia, and the University of Florida came to University Park to look at Penn State's current programming policies and share information about programming at their schools. Albin said the purpose of the visit was for the representatives to "look at what we currently have, [and] also to share with us what we could have."

Matt Couch, assistant director of the Ohio Union, said he met with a lot of Student Affairs staff members and had an open forum with members of UPAC while visiting University Park.

"Depending on how Penn State decides to structure the programming board, it could mean some changes for some of your organizations," Couch said.

Programming at Ohio State, Couch said, is currently run by a council on student affairs made up of faculty members and members of the student government.

About 55 percent of the revenue Ohio State gets from their student activity fee goes to a programming board -- run exclusively by students -- that has funded appearances by Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, and Ludacris. Twenty-four percent of the council's revenue is made available to student organizations, which can receive $200 in yearly operating expenses and $2,500 in yearly programming expenses.

"Our funding guidelines at Ohio State are a lot different than UPAC's," Couch said. "If a student organization wanted to travel, that's something we would fund on a very limited basis."

Latta said sometime in mid-February, the Penn State community would be invited to an open forum to hear periodic updates on the progress of the groups.

"Students will be there, so they can ask questions about it, and it will be an open discussion," said UPAC Overall Chair Keyur Shah.