The University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) has entered its second year of existence, with president Hillary Lewis at the helm, but questions and uncertainty surround the organization as it attempts to reform itself and work toward advocating for students' rights.

The key players

Hillary Lewis -- Last year's governmental affairs chairwoman, Lewis is coming into power with promises of "working to foster a relationship" with the administration, as well as with the Association of Big Ten Students (ABTS), an organization comprising all of the student governments in the Big Ten.

Sean Flynn -- Flynn was recently appointed to the co-chief of staff and is expected to graduate at the end of this semester. He has been called "amazing" by College of Engineering representative Ralph Crivello.

Flynn has made promises to provide UPUA members with a copy machine and computers in their HUB-Robeson Center office.

Last year Flynn served as the facilities chairman under former President Jay Chamberlin.

Ashley Hill -- There was extensive debate and questioning surrounding Hill's nomination to co-chief of staff at UPUA's first meeting Aug. 29. Crivello said he had "a lot of reservations about" her appointment because of her professional relationship with former Undergraduate Student Government (USG) president and UPUA initiator Galen Foulke.

Hill was Foulke's chief of staff and served on his internal development committee. Hill was also a member of the Foulke-created Students for Real Advocacy (SRA) and served as election commissioner during last fall's election that resulted in elected UPUA president Jay Bundy's disqualification. Hill will become the sole chief of staff after Flynn's December graduation.

Bob Orndorff -- Appointed Aug. 15, Orndorff is the current UPUA adviser following the resignation of Felicia McGinty. Though Orndorff's position is temporary, he said he has the "time and commitment" to serve for the upcoming academic year.

The search for a permanent adviser will begin in December.

"I enjoy working with student leaders and student organizations," he said.

Orndorff has been a special assistant to the vice president for student affairs for the past seven years.

His Penn State involvement also includes: serving on the Funding Allocation Board; working with the Discover House, a special living option for division of undergraduate studies students; and working as an affiliate assistant professor for graduate students.

Behind the scenes

This summer, when the time came for Lewis to attend the August ABTS conference and the July Board of Trustees meeting, circumstances prevented her from attending either.
Though Lewis originally received an invitation to the ABTS conference, held in Ann Arbor, Mich., it was later reneged as a result of prior legislation passed that publicly condemned the existence of UPUA.

Lewis said she felt it was "inappropriate" to attend the conference independent of UPUA.
Still, Lewis has received some backlash for her decision not to attend the conference, most notably from members of Safeguard Old State (SOS), an advocacy group on campus that was invited and did attend the ABTS conference.

"For Hillary and UPUA as a whole to just ignore ABTS and not to go, I think it's an insult to students of the Big Ten and it's an insult to Penn State, and especially if they didn't go just because they felt slighted emotionally," said SOS director of advocacy initiatives Tom Shakely.

"You can't let emotions get in the way of doing what's best for students."

While at the conference, representatives from the ABTS met with and discussed possible coalitions with members of SOS.

Students from Michigan State University, in particular, have pledged financial support to SOS pending approval from their student government, the Associated Students of Michigan State University.

A conference call between members of the ABTS and SOS is tentatively scheduled for sometime next week, SOS executive director Gavin Keirans said.

Despite not attending either the Board of Trustees meeting or the ABTS conference, Lewis said that she had spent the summer "trying to get UPUA together and making sure that everyone was on the same page."

Still, early on in the year, Lewis has already made significant changes in her executive board as a result of the summer resignation of chief of staff Ricardo Torres.

Lewis not only replaced Torres but also altered her executive board. For the fall 2007 semester, both Ashley Hill and Sean Flynn will be co-chiefs of staff, despite extensive debate among UPUA members at last week's meeting.

"The chief of staff position can be interpreted any way I want it to be, true or false?" Lewis asked UPUA members when questions arose about both the appointees' qualifications and job duties. Both were appointed to their respective positions last Wednesday after debate and a closed vote.

Future objectives

UPUA's budget was confirmed at $32,000 last night, said internal development committee chairman Jay Chamberlin.

He said this year's budget is going to be "the largest budget a Penn State student government has ever had."

Still, some of UPUA's Big Ten counterparts control substantially more money. For example, Shakely said Michigan State operates with a budget of nearly $1.4 million.

Flynn said UPUA has intentions of "get[ting] things done" with a secure budget in place.
Though ideas were suggested at last Wednesday's meeting, a substantial amount of time was devoted to debate regarding Flynn and Hill's respective appointments.

Something to watch for, however, is a UPUA retreat later this month, suggested by special events and programming chairwoman Hillary Gupta.

UPUA will also host an "I'm pissed about this..." table in the HUB, UPUA media director Sean Meloy said.

The purpose of the table is to allow students face-to-face interaction with UPUA members, and discussion of its institution at the meeting was called "the most efficient thing that happened all night" by UPUA vice president Franklin Keller.

UPUA will be operating the table during Thursday and Friday of next week and the week after. Meloy said he didn't know if it would exist past those four days.

Governmental affairs committee chairman John Richter also suggested UPUA go to Washington, D.C., to speak with senators and representatives about issues like higher education, lower tuition and an investigation of a "student loan scandal."

UPUA followers should also look out for a "strategic [five-year] plan," proposed by Chamberlin.
The plan is designed as "a basis for the organization to move forward," he said. Its purpose is to put a foundation into place for UPUA to reassess itself yearly in a "collective effort." The five-year plan can be found in UPUA's bylaws, Chamberlin said.

Dissenting opinions

Despite high hopes for this year production-wise, UPUA has not been without its critics. "For anyone to argue that UPUA is a legitimate body, I think they're sadly mistaken," said former USG president Nick Stathes.

UPUA's survival rests solely on the amount of money and power allocated to it by vice president of student affairs Vicky Triponey, Shakely said.

"UPUA doesn't have any money to allocate," he said.

"On the contrary, they kind of have to beg Vicky Triponey for money."

The Big Ten also criticized the UPUA in its own way.

In a resolution that was passed last month at the ABTS conference, UPUA's existence was -- for the third time -- rejected and condemned, with special emphasis placed on Triponey's involvement in the organization.

"The ABTS further reject[s] both UPUA as currently organized, and the underhanded process and decision ... to recognize UPUA as the official student voice, as well as all other attempts to lessen the rights of students in favor of administrative control ... ," the resolution reads.