The University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) ran into the same problem last week that the American financial sector faced this September -- it needed a bailout.
With one month left in the semester, UPUA received $36,800 from Penn State Student Affairs to help the group get to the end of the semester.
Before Student Affairs approved the money, UPUA had $981 left in its controlled budget.
UPUA should not have to go to Student Affairs for funds with its "hat in hand," as Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims called it.
A government needs money to accomplish tasks. UPUA has pitched a laundry list of ideas it would like to pursue and accomplish, but none of those goals will be reached without the proper funding.
UPUA, like every other Penn State student group, relies entirely on the University Park Allocations Committee (UPAC) for all of its funding.
This semester, UPAC approved about $19,000 for UPUA, restricted to UPAC-approved purchases. UPUA requested about $72,000.
The money from Student Affairs will be used for general programming purposes, but bailout money for those programs should not be necessary.
Student-elected officials run UPUA. Penn State students pay every semester toward the student activity fee, which UPAC members then allocate to student groups. But the Penn State student body doesn't select all of the UPAC members, even though they are making decisions about student money for student groups.
Ideally, we think UPAC should become a part of UPUA, with limited faculty observation, so the student government would have the power to allocate the millions of dollars students pay for their activity fee each year.
If UPUA is going to be taken seriously as a student government, it needs to earn respect by having control of the money that can make things happen.
In the meantime, UPUA should receive more funding, perhaps through a permanent, yearly allocation of a certain percentage of the activity fee, proposed by UPUA itself. UPUA and UPAC, both under the umbrella of the Student Affairs Office, should be separate entities until UPUA could be responsible for UPAC. The student government should not be dependent on a non-elected board for funding.
The bailout UPUA needed was required because of a flawed system. If UPUA could bypass the UPAC system, it would be able to accomplish the tasks it has promised to the student body more effectively.
