The first full day of the Association of Big Ten Students (ABTS) conference kicked off Friday, with representatives -- including some from the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) -- discussing topics ranging from energy conservation to online textbook swaps to a much-discussed Voter Registration Challenge.
The conference began at the Business Building with new Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims' opening remarks.
Sims, who took office Aug. 1, reminded the assembled representatives that "students need to be an integral part of institutional decision making," and to focus on a few important initiatives rather than taking on too heavy of a load.
Following Sims' speech, the attending representatives - from Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State and Illinois - gave summaries of their plans for the coming year.
Recurring topics of interest were energy conservation, online textbook swaps, civic relations and voter registration, tenant rights and organizational structure.
Former trustee Ben Novak, Class of 1965, delivered a wide-ranging keynote address, focusing on the historical primacy of student government. He focused on John Henry Newman's concepts of education as he described how universities used to exist primarily as a community of students based on the Oxford model, as compared to their current state as job training centers that treat students as customers.
He also emphasized the danger of a disconnect between any government and its constituency, noting that the most dangerous sentence in the English language is "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you."
Novak tied in various historical references throughout, including the Berkeley riots in 1963, Plato, Malcolm X, and the Penn State Undergraduate Student Government's (USG) loss of power in 1969 before closing the speech with a simple goal for the representatives: "Make it a real university again."
The afternoon session was divided into three breakout sessions, which saw discussion of campus marketing, structure, legislation, budgets/activity fee and two cooperative initiatives, Service Nation and the Big Ten Voter Registration Challenge.
The Voter Registration Challenge was discussed heavily, and much of the discussion focused on creating a Web site that would either track a competition for registering voters or become a clearinghouse for election news among the Big Ten schools.
UPUA President Gavin Keirans believes hosting the Association of Big Ten Students conference marks a milestone for his organization.
"It's definitely a progressive step forward. The first time UPUA was even recognized was at the ATBS conference in January," Keirans (junior-business administration) said, referring to the 2006 transfer of power from USG to UPUA, and the ABTS' subsequent refusal to recognize the UPUA until the organization rewrote its constitution.
Keirans felt the day went well.
"We had a really strong morning session," he said. "Ben Novak really engaged the student leaders and there was a lot of back and forth."
However, he added that Penn State's relative distance from the other Big Ten schools has been a problem with hosting the conference. Just four out of the 11 Big Ten schools are represented at the conference, including Penn State.
"It's been tough. We had a couple last minute cancelations that really hurt our numbers," Keirans said.
The conference continues through Sunday morning. Check back with The Daily Collegian for conference updates.
