As the Undergraduate Student Government faces the annual changing of the guard, USG presidential candidates have their own ideas about how and when the ongoing restructuring efforts should be put into effect.

Restructuring efforts began in January when some student leaders, including current USG President Chris Saunders, tried to dissolve the Executive Student Action Council and then resigned from it. Leaders began meeting on weekends to restructure USG and write a new constitution for the Penn State Student Association (PSA).

Saunders said he is confident restructuring will "pass through" the new administration.

"One hundred and fifty people didn't spend four months doing something that doesn't need to be done," he said.

All of the presidential candidates except for Matt Thomas (senior-journalism and English) have been to at least one of the eight weekend restructuring meetings, although some have had more extensive involvement than others.

The four USG presidential and vice presidential tickets are Latino Caucus President Carina Defferrire and former Penn State University Veterans Organization Vice President Pat Scanlan; USG Senate President Mike King and Lori Pennay (junior-speech communications); former Academic Assembly President Erich May and April Campbell (junior-Spanish); and Thomas and Joy Brown (junior-accounting).

Restructuring is something to continue and push through as soon as possible, King said, adding that the attitudes and mind-sets of people in USG have to change to make PSA work.

But Defferrire said attitudes and mind-sets are not going to change if the same people are elected to different executive positions.

"If you're going to change something, you have to change all the way, not halfway," she said. Defferrire sees a need for more student input in the new structure. Electing new people to USG will help to "bring new life to student government," she added.

Saunders said although attitudes and mind-sets need to change, the restructuring effort will not be hindered by the people who helped to lead it in the first place.

That is "moronic campaign rhetoric," he said.

May said taking the word "government" out of the name is the "single greatest point of it all." People come into USG because they want to govern and rule and that is "of no use to the student body," he said, adding, "The (PSA) structure itself won't necessarily bring new life to USG. What will is getting rid of the word government."

The strongest part of PSA is that the organizations are working for common goals, Thomas said, adding that it gets rid of the overlapping projects. The duplication of efforts by student groups was one of the original reasons behind restructuring.

The PSA constitution is now being reviewed by the USG Academic Assembly and must be passed by the organization. It also must be reviewed and passed by the USG Senate and Supreme Court.

Thomas has not seen a copy of the constitution, but said if he looks at all the information Saunders has compiled he will "guarantee an organization that runs better and works better for students."

After reading the PSA constitution, May did not see any problem with it. On paper PSA may not have problems, but it means nothing without human application, he added.

From what Defferrire has seen, the constitution looks good.

"It's very easy to put it into writing, but it's harder to put it into action," she said.

King would like to have a constitutional convention with all the groups involved in PSA. He said everybody needs to review it together and reach a consensus. This would also include student input, he added.

King said he and Saunders have been working on restructuring since the beginning, and he and Pennay would work "hand-in-hand" with Saunders to finish restructuring.

"I will be sticking around to see restructuring go through," Saunders said, adding that he will be there to help with anything.

People who worked on restructuring should help transition to PSA even if they aren't in office anymore, Defferrire said, adding that there will be some way to involve them.

But after the mandatory three-week transition, May said he would not work past leaders into restructuring because if he is elected, it is because he is capable of doing the job.

"There's a difference between turning to people for advice and letting them actually have a hand in," he said.