At Wednesday's UPUA meeting, the last of the semester, the student assembly put finishing touches on an active fall, as it moved forward with the Tenant-Landlord Mediation Center and the integration of the Student Organization Conduct Committee (SOCC).
The assembly unanimously approved a set of amendments to the University Park Undergraduate Assocation (UPUA) constitution. Foremost among those is the transfer of SOCC's duties -- the enforcement of the student code of conduct on student organizations -- to the UPUA Board of Arbitration, and the expansion of the Board of Arbitration from seven to nine.
Student representatives debated at length on the merits of the SOCC-UPUA merger and the appointments of former SOCC members to posts on the Board of Arbitration. Representative Chris Morell questioned the ability of the prospective arbitrators to leave behind their former associations with Student Affairs and integrate fully with UPUA, as there will be no experienced presence on the Board of Arbitration to train them in UPUA's policies. Several other representatives voiced similar concerns.
Ultimately, former SOCC co-chairpersons Josh Peles and Katie Smelas were approved as co-Heads of the Board of Arbitration, and former SOCC members Luke Bean, Kathryn Mattes, Justin Metz, Alyssa Thomas and Ce Zhang were approved as arbitrators.
Peles and Smelas both expressed their excitement at joining UPUA and becoming part of a prominent organization on campus.
The assembly gave its authorization to spend $5,000 next semester on the Tenant-Landlord Mediation Center. Of that total, $1,000 will be allocated for marketing purposes.
Another item debated last night was next semester's budget. Most of the emergency funding that was granted to UPUA by Student Affairs last month will be spent next semester, according to the budget.
The item in the budget that was contentious was the $1,250 in the Programming Committee's budget for customized UPUA apparel. After several proposed amendments failed, the expenditure remained in the budget.
UPUA also voted to create a Recreational and Intramural Sports Commission. This commission is intended to "advise the Director of Recreation Sports on the use of all Recreational Sports programs and facilities, including the formulation of guidelines relative to the use of recreation facilities."
At-large representative Samantha Miller supported the commission, the first of its kind that UPUA has created.
"We need to see how a commission will work, especially one that will have faculty members sitting on it," she said.
Ralph Crivello, chairman of the student assembly, was appointed as UPUA's voting member on the Student Activity Fee Board. He replaces UPUA Treasurer Matt Sheroff, who will be going abroad next semester.
Jason Kleinwaks and Huzefa Mun, of UPUA Legal Affairs, also addressed the assembly regarding the budding Tenant-Landlord Mediation Center. Due for a pilot run next semester, the center will receive $4,000 from UPUA as well as $2,500 from State College Borough.
That money will pay for the mediation services of the Center for Alternatives in Community Justice. Legal Affairs will screen disagreements prior to mediation to ensure "junk" cases don't go to mediation, Mun said.
