If the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) is successful, Penn State football fans without tickets this season may find themselves on game day with seats close to the field -- Medlar Field, that is.
Last night at its third meeting of the year, UPUA introduced the possibility of opening up the ballpark adjacent to Beaver Stadium in an effort to include fans interested in coming together as "superfans," UPUA president Hillary Lewis said after the meeting had concluded.
Though the project is still in the early stages of development, contact with the appropriate persons at Medlar Field and student affairs has been established, she said.
"We're trying to make it feasible," she said. "We hope that it will work because I think it's a slight answer to the football ticket allocation."
The project would foster "an atmosphere of community," she added.
UPUA chief of staff Sean Flynn said interested students could possibly see the project implemented for the Ohio State and/or Wisconsin games.
Lewis said UPUA would charge "a small fee" to students, with alumni most likely paying a bit extra.
Currently, she said, Medlar Field only rents out deluxe suites.
UPUA media director Sean Meloy said the organization is not the first to suggest the idea, but "it's certainly not publicized," and he hopes UPUA involvement would allow students and alumni alike to become more aware of and receptive to the idea.
Meloy said students could gather together to watch the games.
"It would allow them to go see [the football games] in a stadium atmosphere," he said.
Attendees of last night's meeting also discussed UPUA's current "I'm Pissed About THIS..." campaign, which kicked off last Friday night at Paternoville and will engage students today through tables set up in the HUB-Robeson Center.
The campaign is aimed at directly addressing student concerns by allowing individuals with problems to take them up with UPUA members, who will be manning tables beginning at 10 a.m. both today and tomorrow and on Thursdays and Fridays throughout the month of September. The future of the campaign past this month is unconfirmed.
"Our goal is to gauge student opinion, so we can make programs that cater to student needs," Lewis said.
UPUA members who went to Paternoville on Friday passed out T-shirts and pizza to campers and discussed student-related issues.
"Their major concerns were student tickets and rising tuition," governmental affairs chairman John Richter said during his committee report to the assembly. "Those are two things I want to look into."
The meeting also yielded a two-week deadline for a resolution, drafted by College of Engineering representative Ralph Crivello, that addresses the UPUA constitution.
