The University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) will hold special elections this spring for all positions.

The resolution establishing spring elections states 10 reasons for holding elections in the spring instead of in the fall as originally stipulated by the group's constitution. The foremost reason given for spring elections is in order for the group to maintain representation on the Faculty Senate.

"They decided it would not be prudent for them to accept representatives from us elected in the fall," Jay Chamberlin, UPUA president, said last night.

The number of UPUA representatives on Faculty Senate will increase from two to 13 next year as UPUA's academic representatives will also serve as faculty senators, as long as the senate approves UPUA's elections code.

"Really, their only concern is that we're having competitive elections," Chamberlin said. "They're pretty much satisfied; they just want to see an elections code."

Another reason given in the resolution in favor of spring elections is that fall elections effectively exclude seniors from participating in UPUA, and incoming freshmen would have a greater possibility of casting uninformed votes.

Mike Anderson, division of undergraduate studies representative, emphasized that holding elections in the fall would stop seniors from participating in UPUA.

"I think it's terribly unrealistic to expect seniors to pay an extra semester tuition and stick around for student government," Anderson said. "We're going to run the risk of losing senior representation entirely. I'd rather lose some freshmen than lose some seniors."

Pat Gordon (freshman-information sciences and technology), an at-large representative, was instrumental in passing an amendment, "Plan for Action," which promised to investigate the possibility of freshman representation in the UPUA elections code. "I do think that senior representation is very important," Gordon said. "But I don't think that freshman representation is anything to sneeze about."

However, UPUA representatives voiced concerns over organizing elections on such short notice.

"If we have spring elections, it will make this spring dead in the water," John Richter, an off-campus representative, said. "I don't think we'll be able to get anything done."

This concern was overridden by a sense that, while it would be difficult to organize spring elections, it would be worth doing it properly in order to save future associations from administrative tasks, allowing them to concentrate on other things.

"Quite possibly the worst thing we can do is to do that to the next association as well," Katelyn Holmes, an at-large representative, said. "I want this to be the last year of the administration year."

Shawn Gordon, a four-year member of the Undergraduate Student Government, UPUA's predecessor, was in attendance at the meeting and said that both the resolution and the debate were a good thing for the group. "It's a step in the right direction towards making UPUA a stronger organization," he said. "It shows that they can take this group seriously. That's what student government is all about."