This week, the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) approved a wide range of changes to its constitution to make it comparable to other Big Ten student governments.

The constitution would include the expectation that the administration would consult UPUA in decision making, though it would not give it power over its own budget, which would still rest in the hands of the Fee Allocation Board, before which UPUA will appear each year to request funds.

It is this level of administrative and financial control which bodes ill for the prospect of UPUA gaining the level of power enjoyed by many student governments in the Association of Big Ten Students (ABTS).

Students involved in student governments at Michigan State and Iowa, among others, enjoy far broader powers than those granted to UPUA. For example, the Associated Students of Michigan State University have a vote to determine university actions, along with the board of trustees and the administration.

The funding of other student governments, such as Iowa, benefit from larger budgets than UPUA as well, with the University of Iowa Student Government operating on a budget of $850,000.

Statistics such as these reinforce the conclusion that many student governments at Big Ten universities have more power and influence than the UPUA does at Penn State.

It is a scant wonder then that the UPUA is still seeking legitimacy in the view of these other student organizations because student government has been devalued at Penn State to the point that it does not carry significant, enumerated power.

It seems that the UPUA is put in an impossible situation: to improve life for students around Penn State and to represent the interests of students vigorously, while being shackled with the limitations of their current role as an advocacy group.

Student interest has waned in student government as well, with decreased election turnouts in the fall UPUA elections.

This is disappointing, because few students are really aware of how problems could be addressed with a powerful student government.

For example, Ohio State's Undergraduate Student Government was able to secure a $1 million grant from the city of Columbus to improve lighting in dangerous areas.

Students are apathetic to student government because they don't see the positive difference that a strong, focused government could make.

It would seem, to offer a historical analogy, that students at Penn State have found themselves in the role of the Third Estate in the 18th century; restricted in power, though they make up a large portion of the university.

As Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes wrote in his pamphlet:

"What is the Third Estate?: The Third Estate is everything and it desires representation."