Throughout this year, I have been approached by students who challenge me: "I don't care about the Undergraduate Student Government," they say. "You don't do anything anyway."

I find all this interesting. Many students fail to understand that if they don't care what USG does, USG can do whatever it wants. In fact, this means I could collect my free tuition and other perks and not do anything. If you blatantly state and assert that you don't care about USG, it isn't an act of the "cool" indifference that seems to be in fashion, but rather stupidity.

If the administration wanted to raise tuition by 12 percent, the USG president could say, "Sure, go ahead. I believe the University needs the money to expand student services anyway." This would make things a lot easier. I could wander to the governor's office and the state Legislature demonstrating my support for the increase. This would make it even easier.

The normal response to this is, "The students would stop you. The Daily Collegian would find out and tell us." What students fail to understand is no one would know. A smart USG president could do all this and not one student would know until it was too late. Some students say, "Why would you want to raise tuition?" Well, why not? You don't vote, you don't pay attention and you tell me you don't care about USG. I might as well.

If you doubt this scenario, then listen to this. USG chose a national lobbying organization to represent all Penn State student interests on Capitol Hill. I'll bet you didn't know this. It wasn't in the Collegian, was it? Not one student knows if this group is ultra-conservative and supports abolishment of all campus speech codes and minority student aid, or ultra-liberal and ignores funding issues to promote the rights of special interest groups.

Still don't care? Well, these organizations collect per capita dues that will be paid with some of your tuition dollars.

Whether or not you acknowledge it, USG does represent your voice. Representation means that when I go speak in front of the state Senate Appropriations Committee, the University Board of Trustees, or one of the countless meetings I attend, I say things for you. The USG president tells these officials what Penn State students believe and what their opinions are. As far as most of the University community is concerned, the USG president has a mandate from the student body to speak for them.

Thus, logically, I would assume most people would want to know what the USG president is saying. Personally, I would want to know if the person The USG president tells these officials what Penn State students believe and what their opinions are. As far as most of the University community is concerned, the USG president has a mandate from the student body to speak for them.

Thus, logically, I would assume most people would want to know what the USG president is saying. Personally, I would want to know if the person voicing my opinion is supporting increased student aid, or fighting to get pickles put on every plate in the HUB Eateries. Since my money is paying the USG president's tuition, I would want to know what she or he is doing for me.

I can't believe how clueless I was about the decisions being made for me before I joined USG. I can't believe no one told me just how my student government could screw me if I wasn't paying attention. I never even heard of the entities and people who make decisions at Penn State. I didn't know just how little the Collegian informs students about what is really going on. Now I know better.

I really don't mean to be obnoxious about this, and if I have, I apologize. I just want to impress the importance of the election today. The only way to hold USG accountable is to show your elected officials you do have a clue by knowing the issues, voting and keeping track of their activities; not ignoring the election and telling them you don't care. After the last two years, I know USG has much more power and influence than you think, so get informed and vote.