Undergraduate Student Government President J.P. Muir and Vice President Sue Williams said they will leave office today satisfied with their term, although others point out that their administration had both ups and downs.

Recalling last year's election, Muir and Williams noted they won almost 50 percent of the 6,247 votes.

But in September, Muir was faced with his toughest decision yet -- whether or not to fire USG Administrative Assistant James Marino. Marino attempted to purchase class schedule books from the Penn State Bookstore on campus for resale to the Student Book Store, 330 E. College Ave., with funds from a USG restricted account.

Muir fired Marino who then accused Muir of falsifying campaign expense reports and of having induced bias against another candidate on the basis of sexual orientation.

Muir denied the allegation of bias and said Marino made the campaign fund allegation to divert attention from himself.

"We picked ourselves up and said, 'We still have a whole year'," Muir said.

USG Senate President Kurt Derr agreed and said Muir and Williams dealt well with Marino.

"I think they handled themselves well after James made the allegations. They put it behind them and went on with student government," Derr said.

The administration rebounded and began the Forum for Underrepresented Groups enabling groups like Black Caucus, the USG Department of Women's Concerns and Hillel to address their problems as a unit. Muir said the Forum "got the ball moving" on an attempt to add a sexual orientation clause to the University's non-discrimination policy, which he supports.

But although Muir and Williams had said that a tuition freeze was a top priority, they did not lobby for increased state funding until February. They traveled to Harrisburg once to meet with state legislators.

"I think they could have been to Harrisburg more often," said Kelly Glazier, Student Coalition for Commonwealth Education director. "To wait until a tuition increase is inevitable is really being reactive instead of pro-active."

Before spring break the coalition sent letters to all parents of in-state students, urging them to write to state legislators. Two weeks ago Muir and Williams also sent letters to Harrisburg senators, requesting more state appropriations, and encouraged other student organizations to do the same.

Other student issues took priority over further efforts to open the University's budget, said Williams. She said she hopes future administrations will pressure the University to show its budget to the public.

"That's an issue that's going to have to be worked with throughout time," Williams said.

Muir traveled to several Net-10 meetings throughout the year and discussed common concerns with other Big Ten student associations. Last summer Muir invited the other student leaders to Penn State to organize the association.

"We avoided some mistakes this year because we knew how other schools dealt with them," Muir said.

For instance, Muir said he talked to other school leaders about how they instituted a sexual orientation clause into their University's non-discrimination policies, and discussed what campus safety efforts were effective.

On improving Ritenour Health Center, Williams said placing students on two health center committees and asking the center to stay open during lunch hours improved the center.

Director of Health Promotion and Education Susan Kennedy said the involvement of USG senators and Williams has been appreciated and helpful. But Williams added that more improvement is needed.

Tara Ledbetter (sophomore-international politics) agreed, and suggested USG press the health center to increase its staff, especially in the women's health department.

"They need a better staff and more doctors," Ledbetter said. "I wound up having to go to my home doctor."

Members of the USG Academic Assembly followed through with Muir's campaign promise of a course selector guide, and the Penn State Bookstore on Campus Merchandise Superviser Elizabeth Wilson said all 2,000 copies were sold.

"We did exactly what we came in to do," Williams said. "We wanted to leave this organization with a little bit of roots."

Muir said he and Williams began projects that incoming executives Mark Stewart and Merryl Werber can continue.