Most students who voted in Wednesday's Undergraduate Student Government elections favor an open budget and holding Spring Break in the spring, and rely mostly on information about candidates from newspaper articles and debates.

Those preferences were voiced by most of the students who voted yesterday in a special referendum section of the ballot. About 86 percent of the 4,685 students who voted in the election participated in the referendum portion of the ballot, according to figures compiled by the USG Elections Commission.

Town Senator Chris Gazze identified the questions last week as "the most important questions facing the student government." Town Senator Donn Wonderling said the questions were intended to give USG a better understanding of students' needs.

Following are the questions as they appeared on the ballot and the results:

-- Which of the following was the most influential factor in determining how you voted for USG President?

Most students -- 53 percent -- said they were most influenced by "candidates' views as expressed in debates or speeches and as reported in the paper." Less than 5 percent said they were most influenced by the The Daily Collegian's endorsement, a total comprising the smallest number of respondents to the question.

In the past, controversy has arisen over the Collegian endorsement, which is traditionally considered by USG insiders to be the key to winning the presidential race. The endorsed candidate had won six times in a row before Janyne Althaus defeated Kendall Houk, the recipient of this year's endorsement, last night.

"That's interesting," said town Senator Donn Wonderling when told of the results. "I really didn't expect it to be that way . . . Actually, I'm rather happy about it."

"I'm not surprised (by the endorsement's low impact)," said the Collegian's editor, Carolyn Sorisio. "I wouldn't expect the endorsement to throw an election."

The USG Senate repeatedly has attempted to lessen the perceived importance of the endorsement by creating rules that would force the endorsement's recipient to count it against his/her spending limit. While the legislation has never been passed, strong support for such legislation still exists in USG, attested by Wonderling's most recent effort last fall. Ironically, Houk co-sponsored a similar resolution with Wonderling in 1988.

-- Do you feel that a line-item University budget, with the exception of individual salaries, should be open and available to the public?

The students' support of a completely open University budget is unmistakable: this question drew the most respondents -- 4,243, and over 79 percent of those responding answered they either strongly agreed or agreed with the statement.

"Obviously, students are interested in having the budget opened," Althaus said. "We just say it's not going to be the only priority."

Because no question on the ballot addressed safety, Althaus/Novick's central campaign platform, the open budget might be overemphasized, she added.

-- Would you like to see Spring Break moved back a few weeks to the middle of March?

Penn State students appear to agree they should be permitted to take spring break during the spring, a right students at other institutions take for granted. Eighty-two percent of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the statement.

"There are many other factors we have to consider (other than student opinion)," Althaus said. "If 82 percent said they wanted it, it's something to look into."

-- Do you believe that the administration of this University gathers and considers sufficient student opinion before making its decisions?

Students were split on this issue --44 percent said "not usually," but 31 percent answered "sometimes," with 12 percent undecided.

"That is not a reflection on the University administration," Althaus said. "It's a reflection on USG -- it should be proactive in going to the administration and say what needs to be done."

-- Currently, a portion of the University's general funds budget is allocated to fund student activities. Would you be in favor of separating this amount from tuition payments in the form of a student activities fee, which would be used and administered directly by students to fund clubs and organizations, purchase or provide facilities for student activities, or possibly be used to expand the HUB at some later date?

Students were split on this question, which drew the fewest respondents of any question: 3,863. While 46 percent of the respondents answered in the affirmative, 31 percent answered no and 23 percent had no opinion.