Every American citizen has a plethora of governmental representatives bestowed him or her. These civic officials often range from municipal councilors and state legislators to federal representatives. Every American has this mutual commonality between them. All are witness to these virtues of our democratic republic. However, college students hold a unique perspective in civilized American society. We are not only subject to the aforementioned levels of government. Collectively, American college students have aspired to reperesent themselves to their respective universities and as a united voice to the nation. Here at Penn State University, these civic aspirations have come to fruition in the form of the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA).

For over thirteen years, the UPUA has served as an outlet for Penn State students to democratically and freely elect representatives to voice their concerns to university administration and to the State College community. There are around forty At-Large Representatives, one Representative for each academic college, and four Representatives for “Special Interest Groups” (the Greek Councils).

Recently, there has been great controversy over the adding of seats especially for the three multicultural student groups on Penn State’s Unhveristy Park campus – Black Caucus, Latino Caucus, and Asian-Pacific American Caucus. They have been demanding exclusive seats representing their own caucuses with permanent voting status. Last Assembly, an Ad-Hoc Committee was formed to analyze the issue. Due to the slow-moving nature of the process, the topic has become one of petty insults and backroom deals, and the arguments have become accurately representive of our society’s growing preference for identity politics.

Identity politics refers to the preference of individuals to associate with a larger group and act simply in that groups favor in the public forum. This is a marginalizing technique which has pitted group against group and has grown with the polarization of Democrats and Republicans on the national stage. The efforts to pit one race or group against another for the sake of identity is a mistake and a pitfalls of efforts for true inclusion. By focusing on groups, we often lose track of the individual. This has been all too true on the national stage for decades. Unfortunately, this issue is finally coming to a head at Penn State. Hopefully, level heads prevail in UPUA this fall, and a compromise can be reached to the benefit of every individual Penn State student.