Students can give the Undergraduate Student Government a piece of their minds this Wednesday -- and not just by choosing a president.

The USG elections ballot will include five non-binding referendum questions chosen by the USG Senate. USG does not have to act on the responses regardless of how students vote, but town Senator Brent Watson said USG will most likely use the responses.

The questions include: Should students pay an extra fee to improve services at Ritenour Health Services; how satisfied are students about academic advising; is the University's training of teaching assistants adequate; should the University's schedule include a fall break; and should the University's policy on disciplining students found with marijuana be made more lenient.

Currently the University is closed on Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and the Friday following Thanksgiving. The addition of more vacation days during the Fall Semester will result in a longer semester.

The question lists the following options: no change in the existing semester, days off for federal holidays currently unobserved by the University (Columbus Day and Veterans Day both fall during the Fall Semester), a five-day weekend during the course of the fall semester, the entire week of Thanksgiving off, or a full week off in the middle of the semester.

The fall break question relates to efforts of the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments, which has been pursuing the possibility of instituting a break for the past year, said CCSG coordinator Brian Donaldson.

"It's not anything that's totally outrageous," Donaldson said. "We have a spring break, why not have a fall break?"

CCSG has discussed with University administrators the possibility of beginning the semester five days early, then giving students the week of Thanksgiving off and an additional two study days before finals, Donaldson said.

The idea has not been dismissed by administrators, but because the University calendar is planned years in advance, it would be a while before such a change took effect.

The Penn State chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws presented the senate with more than 300 signatures in support of including the marijuana possession question.

Although USG cannot change disciplinary policies, USG representatives could use student response as a mandate for action by the University Faculty Senate, said Penn State NORML Secretary Gwyn Schobert.

The current University policy for disciplining students possessing less than 30 grams of marijuana, and for the possesion of drug paraphernalia, is a minimum of one semester of disciplinary probation. This action can currently be increased to include additional semesters of probation, suspension, or dismissal, subject to the judicial board's interpretation of the circumstances of the offense.

The questions asks if students would want the policy to read: "Students arrested or convicted of first time misdemeanor marijuana-related offenses will receive no more than one semester of disciplinary probation."