Free and open debate works best behind closed doors, don't you think?

Last week, the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) passed its amended constitution -- the document that in effect governs the way UPUA governs us -- in a closed meeting.

The group said the changes were so minor, the student body didn't need to be there anyway.

To them, it was just housekeeping; to us, it was a slap in the face.

It just doesn't make sense that the open government UPUA claims it is striving for should start by blocking out the people it supposedly represents.

But why would our new government treat us this way?

"We wanted a free and open debate without having to worry about what was going to be said in the [The Daily] Collegian the next day," Andrew Reeve, UPUA transition group chairman, said after the meeting.

How dare Reeve even presume to say something like that.

Does he understand the concept of democracy?

The student body should be outraged by this statement. Is government turning into a responsibility of just the select few? Is the student government at Penn State slowly transforming to a tyrannical body?

Perhaps they don't care about your two cents. The student government is too worried about "governing" the student body that they are forgetting where their loyalties are. Let them get wrapped in jargon and politics, let them be tied to bitter debates with the administration, let them work their butts off -- but let them not forget who they are doing it all for.

And may we remember to remind them what democracy means.

In other words, student government should pull its proverbial head out of its rear-end and embrace the student body. No more whispered secrets and closed doors.

Include us.