Vote for changes tomorrow -- not the status quo

Yipee . . . the Undergraduate Student Government elections are upon us tomorrow, or in the words of one of the candidates, the yearly "political masturbation."

My change of heart comes after witnessing first-hand one of the more intriguing PSU public displays last week. Though it was panned by many candidates and spectators, the "Willard debate" did represent an effective outlet for candidates to connect directly and most importantly, unpretentiously, with students in a totally open and informal forum.

Even though I do not consider myself the most ardent Darin Loccarini supporter, I applaud him for this idea to bring discussion to students rather than hopelessly assuming students will go out of their way to follow the campaigns.

What bothered me during the proceedings, however, was that one ticket chose to remain conspicuously absent from the Willard steps. Mysteriously missing from this debate were representatives from the Desmond/Polk campaign. What was the reason for not attending?

According to last Wednesday's Collegian, Desmond stated that "Willard is not the place to debate the serious issues in a forum that may not be taken as seriously."

Apparently this ticket believes that normal, everyday students who walk past Willard at noon are not interested in the "serious" issues. That honor is reserved for the thousands of spectators who packed the Jordan Center for the previous two "sanctioned" debates.

The absence of the ticket was too bad, as I could not receive a full response to my question, where I asked each ticket to "respond to allegations that USG is a secretive and exclusive organization controlled by the Secret Societies."

I have several sources on the HUB second floor who confirm what everyone knows already -- that several current USG members are involved with these societies. I personally have no problem with the idea of Secret Societies, forums for University leaders to convene and hobnob. Where I do take exception in the case of USG, however, is knowing that administrators on this campus also constitute a large part of societal "membership."

The current USG executives deny the importance of societies in student leadership. After I posed my questions to the tickets, a current high-level USG member approached me and claimed that societies have nothing to do with USG or the elections. I do not necessarily disagree with the statement. However, I do feel that societies, which do have administrators in their ranks, promote a greater feeling of "comraderie" among high-ranking USG officials and the individuals who are directly acting against student wishes.

It is important for a strong set of leaders to represent students against our lip-service administration. As is evidenced by University President Graham Spanier's lukewarm responses to students' borough housing concerns (be at that meeting April 7!), the administration here is not extremely interested in the concerns of Penn State, the ones who pay their salary.

When a ticket with strong ties to the current USG administration chooses to skip a debate geared toward down-to-earth discussion of issues amongst "normal" Penn State students, it reeks of the exclusivity and snobbery that plagues USG.

We need a USG executive branch working as an autonomous and independent unit, directly confronting Spanier and the administration, making them uncomfortable and forcing them to realize that students are not apathetic.

It seems that other campus organizations such as the ACLU are functioning as the true student voice now on pressing issues. While I applaud their efforts immensely, it is the USG administration that should really be taking the lead against Old Main and the township leaders. However, that does not seem to be the case.

I encourage everyone to vote tomorrow. There are many tickets this year, who, believe it or not, really have the interest of Penn State students in mind. Most importantly, do not blindly vote.

Question directly a campaign worker or candidate who hands you a handbill or button. Make sure you feel confident that the candidate is out for more than a front page Collegian headline and picture the next day.

Most importantly, guarantee that whoever wins will truly represents the total, unabashed interest of the Penn State student -- the decision is more important than you might think.