After a week of surveying about 2,500 students on what they are "pissed" about concerning student representation on campus, UPUA found that 161 were pissed about the organization itself.
In a referendum that ended on Dec. 7, students were asked to tell the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) which issues they found most frustrating at Penn State.
The results of the endeavor were presented at last night's UPUA meeting, and high tuition costs and football ticket allocations placed just above UPUA in write-in responses collected from the survey.
Responses to the write-in question, "Tell us something [you're] pissed about" ranged from "UPUA is so unprofessional in saying 'tell us something you are pissed about' " to "CATA's inconsistent bus service" to "the cost of on-campus food for off-campus living."
Some students didn't take the referendum seriously, Katelyn Holmes, academic affairs chairwoman, said.
"We debated a lot about if students know what a referendum is, and now I have to say that they don't," she said. "A lot of students didn't want to answer the referendum because they didn't know who was running."
Thirty percent of students were unsure if the student government is limited by the administration.
A majority didn't like the fact that the administration has a vote on student issues, UPUA Representative Justin Waddell said in a presentation to the assembly. Despite students' concerns about UPUA, the referendum found that a majority of students surveyed support a unified student government that submits student concerns to the administration.
Some UPUA members stressed the danger of relying too much on the referendum's results.
"This is not a great way to ask opinions and get ideas," Waddell said.
"You don't just ask people to write down random things -- it's not a good idea."
However, Waddell added that the referendum was a good representation of the demographics of the student body at Penn State.
The referendum may have been more effective if presented during the spring semester, John Richter, governmental affairs chair, said.
"Many, many people thought this was confusing," he said, adding that UPUA could have "taken time" on the initiative.
"What I've been saying for months is the stuff students care about are administration and tickets, not really our constitution or our structure," he said.
In addition to discussing the referendum, members also passed an opinion on the adoption of the State College Borough Anti-Discrimination Ordinance, which, according to the UPUA opinion, "affords protection against discrimination in employment on the basis of ... race, ... sex, ... [and] sexual orientation."
The opinion approved of the borough's initiative but suggested three amendments to the ordinance, which would protect against discrimination in public housing and accommodation as well as employment.
One of the amendments suggested a student position be created on the Human Rights Commission, which would be established by the ordinance.
Members also discussed the upcoming Association of Big Ten Schools (ABTS) conference next semester, which will be held at Purdue University.
In August, UPUA wasn't invited to the semiannual conference on the basis of a then-inadequate constitution.
This year, ABTS congratulated UPUA on its constitutional advancements in the past year, College of Engineering Representative Ralph Crivello said.
