Students will have an opportunity this week to talk directly to Penn State’s leaders.
University Park Undergraduate Association, Council of Commonwealth Student Governments and Graduate Student Association will host a Student Town Hall Forum where students can talk to Penn State administrators from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday.
The event will take place in the HUB-Robeson Center Auditorium and it’s an opportunity for students to ask questions they may have about Penn State.
UPUA President Courtney Lennartz, CCSG President Ben Clark and GSA President Wanika Fisher worked together to organize the forum.
The three student government leaders discussed which administration members they would like on the panel, Fisher (graduate-law) said.
Administration members scheduled to attend the forum include University President Rodney Erickson, Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims, Acting Athletic Director David Joyner, Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses Madlyn Hanes, Vice President for Finance and Business David Gray and Board of Trustees member Marianne Alexander.
This is the third Student Town Hall Forum that will be held since the first one was held last November and the second in April.
“We just want to provide a form of dialogue between students and administration,” Lennartz (senior-health policy and administration) said.
Students can ask administrators any questions they have, whether they are about tuition, former FBI Director Louis Freeh’s report or NCAA sanctions, Lennartz said.
Students at commonwealth campuses can also get involved in the discussion.
An email address — commonwealthtown@psu.edu — will be monitored by CCSG where students from commonwealth campuses can send in questions, Clark (senior-accounting) said.
Several commonwealth campuses will hold events on campus where students can watch a live stream of the forum, Clark said.
During the most recent forum, commonwealth campus students got heavily involved and their questions were answered, Clark said.
This will also be the first time a trustee will be on the panel, Fisher said.
Past forums have had good turnouts and Lennartz said she hopes that students will take advantage of this opportunity.
“Especially for freshmen, I’m expecting them to ask about the NCAA sanctions and what they mean exactly,” Fisher said.
While the forums have been occurring once every semester since November 2011, they haven’t yet been made into set events per semester.
“It’s something that we’re working to sustain. The only way we’ll be able to sustain it is if we have a good student turnout. As long as students keep showing up, I think it’s something that’ll keep happening,” Lennartz said.
