In an unprecedented political shakeup, Pennsylvania’s state House of Representatives has been completely replaced by Elizabethtown College’s own Student Assembly. The mix-up that experts are calling the most baffling bureaucratic error in the state’s history has left state officials and observers scrambling to determine whether the transition is legally binding.
According to sources within the PA Department of State, the error originated when an overworked staffer mistakenly uploaded Etown’s student election results instead of the certified state legislative roster. As a result, all 203 seats in the House were reassigned to the five Etown student representatives. The mistake went unnoticed until a recess after the first legislative session, when some members of the new legislature tried to buy lunch using their student IDs. By the time election officials realized something was wrong, it was too late, as Gov. Josh Shapiro had already sworn in the students.
Since taking control, the new legislature has wasted no time in enacting a series of sweeping reforms. Among their first actions are replacing PA’s state bird, the ruffed grouse, with the blue jay, replacing the state’s flower with whatever flowers are outside the Baugher Student Center (BSC) at any given time, and replacing the PA coat of arms, which appears on the state flag, with a picture of Truman. Additionally, Tuesdays have been officially renamed “Taco Tuesday” in honor of longstanding dining hall traditions on campus, and formal tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike have been removed in favor of a “choose-your-own-price” model.
Ousted legislators, who only became aware of the situation after arriving in Harrisburg and discovering that their keycards and IDs had been deactivated, have expressed mixed reactions.
Pride on campus has never been higher, however, as students and faculty alike celebrate the appointments. Patrick Snyder, a junior political science major, expressed the state of incredulity that he and several others felt:
“I can’t believe the State House of Representatives even knows where Etown is,” Snyder said.“I am nonetheless proud of my fellow Etownians.”
While legal experts debate the legitimacy of the takeover and argue over its constitutionality, the new representatives remain committed to their work. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has refused to intervene, citing the new representatives’ overwhelming support on Etown’s campus, and the student-assembled House is pressing forward with its next major initiative: eliminating daylight savings time and replacing it with what they describe as a “more intuitive and modern approach to sun management.”
For now, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania remains in uncharted territory, and residents can only watch and wonder—will this end in disaster, or could a student-run government function better than the one it replaced?
