After meeting with Felicia McGinty, associate vice president for Student Engagement, former Undergraduate Student Government (USG) President Galen Foulke has officially formed the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) Transition Council.

The council will help UPUA establish itself throughout the summer and into the fall. It will also help with the election process next semester.

Foulke sent formal invitation letters to about 18 of 20 members of the Council of Student Leaders (CSL) -- students chosen by Vice President for Student Affairs Vicky Triponey as her advising staff -- yesterday afternoon.

He said he met with McGinty to ensure he had not made any mistakes or looked over anyone in the selection process of the group. "I wanted to see how we would be able to work with her as an adviser and if she saw any blunders with the selection process or other members of the student community that I didn't invite," Foulke said.

He said he did not include all 20 members of the CSL because he wanted to gear his invitations toward students who have a major role in student advocacy on campus. "I picked the ones that were major representative organizations and left out groups that didn't necessarily fit with the representative idea," he said.

Off-Campus Student Union President Ryan Bennington said the formation of the group was a good idea, and there have been many meetings to discuss UPUA as the recognized student voice on campus. "We all came to the consensus that we supported the UPUA, but there are many things that still need to be changed," he said. The formation of the council "is the best way possible to get things off the ground."

Andrew Reeve, Students for Real Advocacy president, said the new group intends only to help with the transition process and not take over the organization. "You need a group of students who are dedicated and who support the organization; this group is not meant to take over UPUA," he said. "[The council] is setting up framework so that other people can take it over."

Ed Rowe, Allies president, said Foulke was presented with a difficult challenge in trying to create something that effectively represented the student voice.

"The climate didn't really exist for this transition to happen; the best-case scenario would have been for the current student government to be open to change," he said.

Rowe said the formation of this group is the most effective action toward representing the broad range of the student voice. "Even if Galen hasn't done exactly what I would have done, I know in his heart he is trying to move toward a group that is effectively trying to communicate the student voice," he said. "I am honored and happy to be a part of this transition."

Rowe and Bennington agreed the the group includes a variety of student leaders. "The big thing is that they are a neutral group that reaches into the widest spread of student organizations," Bennington said. "[The council] can pull a lot of different ideas to make sure that student voices are heard."

USG President Nick Stathes said the group may find it difficult to form an elections commission next semester and get students to run. "Because UPUA has no elected members right now, it's going to be difficult to come up with an elections commission," he said. "I don't even know if they have an elections code yet, but if I was a student planning on running for UPUA, it would upset me that the elections code is not available and out there."