The candidates for Undergraduate Student Government president and vice president are not only concerned about student life at the University -- they are addressing downtown State College as well.

Issues such as improved downtown lighting, Town and Weekend Loop service and more student involvement with the State College Borough Council are themes being voiced on several candidates' platforms.

The four candidates for USG president and vice president 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 communication); former USG Academic Assembly President Erich May and April Campbell (junior-Spanish); and Matt Thomas (senior-journalism and English) and Joy Brown (junior-accounting). Defferrire has taken a leave of absence from Latino Caucus.

Many of the candidates addressed the issue of insufficient lighting in some of the downtown areas, such as in various residential areas.

May said everyone talks about increasing campus lighting, but he thinks the town's lighting is more in need of improvement. He added that there are entire blocks with only one street light.

King agreed that lighting in the downtown area is a problem. As a member of the borough's Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Commission, King said he is able to voice student concerns about lighting to borough officials.

Scanlan also agreed that lighting in State College is a problem, but said it cannot be changed overnight.

Thomas said no matter how many lights there are in town, students who are alone at night don't feel safe. For that reason, he said he wants the Weekend Loop to run longer hours and extend farther down College Avenue. The Weekend Loop runs as far west as South Allen Street and as far east as Garner Street.

Expanded service of the Town and Weekend Loops is an important issue on some candidates' platforms. They said the expansion is needed to better serve students.

Improved Loop service has been a campaign issue in previous USG elections. The Weekend Loop was started by King and USG Pollock/Nittany Senator Lisa Fields in 1992. It was previously tried as the Fraternity Loop, which existed for only three weeks because of financial trouble and low ridership.

Thomas added that he wants to have the Weekend Loop completely funded, possibly by corporate sponsors.

King said he also wants to have free Weekend Loop sevice to all students.

"We're working with the University to try and get full funding for the Weekend Loop so it will be free to all students," King said.

May said the Town Loop should be rerouted through the fraternity district to go down Garner Street and Fairmount Avenue on a regular basis.

"I don't believe that students in State College party only on Friday and Saturday nights, and I don't see the Town Loop going into town, and I think it's overdue," May said.

King said the size of the roads would prevent a Loop bus from running on them. He said a proposal to expand the sevice may require the widening of some streets.

But State College Borough Manager Peter Marshall said the expansion of the Town Loop to additional streets probably would not require the widening of streets. Marshall said the borough would not pay for the widening of streets if buses were unable to go down certain streets. He added that the funding for the proposal would be the big issue at hand.

Defferrire said she does not know a lot about town issues because she lives on campus, but she is willing to listen to students' concerns. She added that she and Scanlan are asking students who live downtown about their concerns and what they would like to see done.

Scanlan said, "We're going to take an active role with the mayor and with the borough council, discuss these situations and do what's best for the college and do what's best for the town."

Many of the candidates want to see student representation on the council so students' concerns could be heard by the officials.

King said he would like to see a nonvoting student member of the borough council. He added that Purdue University has a similar program that has been very successful.

May thinks students need to be more involved in voting for borough council.

"We need to vote. We need to prove to the borough that we are legitimate citizens of the borough," May said. "It is the student body at Penn State that turns the wheels and runs the economy of the borough of State College."

Thomas said he would like a student who can vote on borough council but realizes it is probably not possible. He said he would settle for a nonvoting student delegate.

Council member Janet Knauer said she favors a nonvoting student on borough council, but she is not sure how to select the student. Knauer said she supported the idea during her campaign last year.

"I'm still interested in it, but I haven't worked out how it will occur," she said.

Knauer said the council decided against having a nonvoting student serve on the council because students and the general public are allowed to voice their concerns at each council meeting.