Dear reader,
We are pleased to introduce our redesigned website, which contains The Party Line, GPA’s new blog for recaps of our events, membership features, and issue spotlights. Thanks for taking the time to check it out! Stay posted here for highlights from our upcoming year. As we look forward to 2015, GPA wants to reflect on the past year and celebrate our successes in 2014.
Over the past year, GPA hosted three members of the U.S. House of Representatives (Connie Morella, Bart Stupak, and Lou Barletta) along with the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert. We organized professor and speaker panels on topics ranging from immigration to organized labor, from public education to local politics. We hosted over 75 events that catered to the different interests of GPA members, whether large events of over 150 attendees, or more intimate gatherings of a few people, usually gathered at the Polybian House for a heated debate — or maybe just a round (or twenty) of Mario Kart.
GPA’s branches grew in size and strength over the past year as well. The Polybian Society enjoyed its first calendar year of existence and nearly tripled its membership in just a year — but as we’ve grown larger, we’ve grown closer and stronger. Polybian has gone from a small group of friends who got together on Thursday nights for fiery debates on politics to a large, yet still tight-knit organization with a mentor-mentee system, housing for members, small themed discussion groups, coffee chats, and much more.
The Penn Political Union also had an incredibly successful first semester. In our three sessions on tax reform, U.S. intervention in Syria, and universal preschool, we’ve seen raucous debate, cloakroom dealings, epic live tweets, close wins, and even some compromise. After three sessions alone, we have over 100 members, and the caucuses show no signs of slowing down. The PPU is gearing up for a passionate debate about election reform on January 22nd and will continue to grow in the coming months.
Finally, The Spectrum celebrated its first print publication in Fall 2014 and will be producing another publication for Spring 2015. Our columnists produced work on diverse subjects, foreign and domestic, political and social, intellectual and philosophical. Members of Polybian and the PPU also posted content regarding the topics of their debates in the popular Face-off and Last Word columns. With over 15,000 views and 20 columnists in 2014, The Spectrum will continue to be the place where, if you have a thought, you can publish that thought.
Overall, GPA had a incredibly successful 2014, and if you like the programming and events we’ve done over the past year, have no fear — none of it is going away. As we move into the New Year, GPA is committed to doing what we’ve always done, but doing it better, bigger, and faster. Our new website is just the first of these changes. Over the coming semester, Polybian will continue to host its popular symposia on the first, second, and last Thursday of each month, and as always, membership in Polybian is open to all Penn students. The newly-elected Polybian board has plenty of fresh ideas of ways members new and old can get involved in the Society.
In addition, we hope to strengthen the PPU’s relationships with other political and activist groups on campus in the coming months, making PPU the hub for campus activists to produce legislation on their passion, have their voices heard, and create real change in local, state, and federal government. Finally, we have an exciting lineup of speakers coming to campus this semester — more to come on that later. You can hear more about those events as they approach through our new website, our Facebook page, and our listserv.
Finally, we want to thank everyone who has made the first two years of GPA possible, including (but certainly not limited to) Imran Cronk, Liam Bobyak, Michael Sklar, Joe Kiernan, Jing Ran, Sasha Klebnikov, Sean McGeehan, John Zeng, Casey Libonate, Nick Zarra, Daniel Colson, Varun Menon, and Louis Capozzi. None of this would be possible without all of your dedication and diligence, and the new leadership of GPA promises to continue your hard work as we look forward to 2015.
Sincerely,
The Executive Board of Penn GPA
P.S. Hope to see you at our State of the Union Watch Party on January 20th! More information can be found on our Events page.
We are pleased to introduce our redesigned website, which contains The Party Line, GPA’s new blog for recaps of our events, membership features, and issue spotlights. Thanks for taking the time to check it out! Stay posted here for highlights from our upcoming year. As we look forward to 2015, GPA wants to reflect on the past year and celebrate our successes in 2014.
Over the past year, GPA hosted three members of the U.S. House of Representatives (Connie Morella, Bart Stupak, and Lou Barletta) along with the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert. We organized professor and speaker panels on topics ranging from immigration to organized labor, from public education to local politics. We hosted over 75 events that catered to the different interests of GPA members, whether large events of over 150 attendees, or more intimate gatherings of a few people, usually gathered at the Polybian House for a heated debate — or maybe just a round (or twenty) of Mario Kart.
GPA’s branches grew in size and strength over the past year as well. The Polybian Society enjoyed its first calendar year of existence and nearly tripled its membership in just a year — but as we’ve grown larger, we’ve grown closer and stronger. Polybian has gone from a small group of friends who got together on Thursday nights for fiery debates on politics to a large, yet still tight-knit organization with a mentor-mentee system, housing for members, small themed discussion groups, coffee chats, and much more.
The Penn Political Union also had an incredibly successful first semester. In our three sessions on tax reform, U.S. intervention in Syria, and universal preschool, we’ve seen raucous debate, cloakroom dealings, epic live tweets, close wins, and even some compromise. After three sessions alone, we have over 100 members, and the caucuses show no signs of slowing down. The PPU is gearing up for a passionate debate about election reform on January 22nd and will continue to grow in the coming months.
Finally, The Spectrum celebrated its first print publication in Fall 2014 and will be producing another publication for Spring 2015. Our columnists produced work on diverse subjects, foreign and domestic, political and social, intellectual and philosophical. Members of Polybian and the PPU also posted content regarding the topics of their debates in the popular Face-off and Last Word columns. With over 15,000 views and 20 columnists in 2014, The Spectrum will continue to be the place where, if you have a thought, you can publish that thought.
Overall, GPA had a incredibly successful 2014, and if you like the programming and events we’ve done over the past year, have no fear — none of it is going away. As we move into the New Year, GPA is committed to doing what we’ve always done, but doing it better, bigger, and faster. Our new website is just the first of these changes. Over the coming semester, Polybian will continue to host its popular symposia on the first, second, and last Thursday of each month, and as always, membership in Polybian is open to all Penn students. The newly-elected Polybian board has plenty of fresh ideas of ways members new and old can get involved in the Society.
In addition, we hope to strengthen the PPU’s relationships with other political and activist groups on campus in the coming months, making PPU the hub for campus activists to produce legislation on their passion, have their voices heard, and create real change in local, state, and federal government. Finally, we have an exciting lineup of speakers coming to campus this semester — more to come on that later. You can hear more about those events as they approach through our new website, our Facebook page, and our listserv.
Finally, we want to thank everyone who has made the first two years of GPA possible, including (but certainly not limited to) Imran Cronk, Liam Bobyak, Michael Sklar, Joe Kiernan, Jing Ran, Sasha Klebnikov, Sean McGeehan, John Zeng, Casey Libonate, Nick Zarra, Daniel Colson, Varun Menon, and Louis Capozzi. None of this would be possible without all of your dedication and diligence, and the new leadership of GPA promises to continue your hard work as we look forward to 2015.
Sincerely,
The Executive Board of Penn GPA
P.S. Hope to see you at our State of the Union Watch Party on January 20th! More information can be found on our Events page.