Starting with an accelerated campaigning process punctuated by controversial statements and disqualification, the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) has advanced from unstamped fliers to writing bylaws and "getting its act together," its president said.

UPUA replaced the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) when a referendum held last spring deemed USG ineffective. The new government was proposed as the new voice of students by former USG President Galen Foulke.

The elections process began with campaigning in late September with current president Jay Chamberlin (senior-political science), Mike Hines (senior-finance and history) and Jay Bundy (junior-philosophy) vying for the presidential slot.

On Oct. 11, elections were held, and Bundy was unofficially declared president. After making controversial statements and calling voters "stupid," Bundy was disqualified by elections commissioners for violating campaign policies unrelated to his comments.

"It started out pretty embarrassingly, and I think we've recovered to a certain extent," Tom Shakely, UPUA off-campus representative, said. "The election could have been run with some modicum of sanity."

After what Chamberlin said was an "emotional roller coaster," he and Mitch Belding, UPUA vice president, were left to start from scratch.

"The biggest challenge has been just getting this organization together and getting it to start moving forward," Chamberlin said. "It was also hard transitioning from acting as the sole representative of UPUA and making it into a representative body. Before we started meetings, I was the only face of UPUA."

Chamberlin said many of the difficulties UPUA incurred early on were beyond his control.

"Five of the colleges still don't have representatives," he said. "In part, it's been more difficult than I expected to get this organization together. I can't control that. Other people appoint those positions."

Looking toward the future, Chamberlin said there are many issues he would like to look at before ending his term and graduating at the end of this spring.

"The bylaws -- I would like to see those done in the first few weeks when we get back. It's a very tedious process," he said.

He said he looks forward to evaluating the process in which football season tickets are distributed and developing a new program for the standards of teaching assistants.

"My main goals are exactly the platform I ran on," Chamberlin said.

Members of UPUA have also developed their own personal goals as they have learned more about the organization.

"I plan on being really involved in different committees," Nicole Stettler, UPUA at-large representative, said. "I think [Chamberlin] said that the committees will be doing a lot of work, and I would like to lend my expertise where it is needed."

Chamberlin said it is these personal goals that will keep UPUA on top.

"The committee chairs will come up with their own specific agendas," he said. "It is going to be UPUA as a whole coming up with a platform for what they want to do. It's the organization that does a lot of the work."

As UPUA advances into its next semester, Chamberlin said he hopes all hard feelings and past controversies can be put to rest.

"I'd hope that we have kind of gotten past that," he said. "I don't really like talking about anything between USG and UPUA, because that wasn't my fight."