UPUA will vote tonight whether or not to spend $8,981 on the Encampment for student leaders to convene and add an additional 215 i>clickers to the already existing 215 for the i>clicker program.
Encampment is a two-day event for student leaders of Penn State to come together and discuss any challenges facing student organizations.
“[Student leaders] see this as a big opportunity to collaborate and get to know each other,” UPUA Chief of Staff John Zang said.
The University Park Undergraduate Association would be spending roughly $1,000 under their Encampment budget of $10,000.
This year’s Encampment budget of $10,000 is seeing an increase compared to last year’s budget of $6,000.
UPUA wanted to have two Encampments this year, with one in the fall and one in the spring, but a change in the Encampment director made that hard to do. Instead, they’ll be doing a two-day long event in the spring, Zang said.
“We’re okay with spending a little more money on it because any time you expand the event, you’re going to incur more costs,” Zang (senior-international politics) said.
The i>clicker program had 215 i>clickers available from UPUA’s Academic Affairs Committee at the beginning of the fall semester for students to rent after paying a safety deposit. As long as students return their rented i>clickers at the end of the semester in the same condition, their safety deposit of $40 will be returned.
All 215 i>clickers available this fall were rented out within hours. After seeing so much success with the program, the group would like to buy 215 more i>clickers.
“Student feedback has been overwhelmingly popular. Students love this program and they have no reason not to,” UPUA Off-Campus Representative Elias Warren said.
If the legislation passes, UPUA’s Academic Affairs would be spending $6,447.85 on the extra 215 i>clickers. They would also print 460 i>clicker rental contracts for $36.80.
They have 460 rental contracts, rather than 430, included as a precaution so if contracts aren’t returned at the end of the semester, they’ll have 30 extra contracts if they’re needed.
Warren said he thinks 215 additional i>clickers is a reasonable amount to increase the quantity without buying too many.
“It’s important that we increment the size, but do it responsibly,” Warren (junior-management) said.
Tonight’s meeting will also feature Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses Madlyn Hanes, Council of Commonwealth Student Governments President Ben Clark and former CCSG President and current student trustee Peter Khoury as guest speakers.
Hanes invited Clark and Khoury to speak with her at the meeting to give a student’s perspective on how the Commonwealth Campus system works, Khoury said.
Clark said he sees this as a great opportunity for Khoury and him to discuss what the transition is like from Commonwealth Campuses.
To email reporter: jzs5661@psu.edu
