In their first meeting Tuesday night, the 32nd Congress of the Undergraduate Student Government elected Sean Clark (junior-political science) the new Senate president and appointed their committee chairs.

Candidates who were nominated had five minutes to explain their plans for the year with the future Senate.

The 31st Congress Senate President, Mike Fazio, ran against Clark. Clark won in a very close race with an almost completely split Senate.

Clark served on the 30th Congress as a senator and served as the parliamentarian for the 31st Congress.

Clark said he is very involved with town relations and wants to better the relationship with the town to get more students concerned.

"What I want to do is work with the State College borough," Clark said. "The time is right to get involved with students."

Clark also said he wants to work for more on- and off-campus housing and lessen the restrictions the borough has on State College property. He said many State College residents do not want the West Campus expansion.

Working on the internal aspects of USG is another one of Clark's goals. He wants to work on the Elections Code to clear up any misconceptions and hopes to improve the online voting system.

Clark also wants to improve the liaisons USG has with other student organizations. "Senate liaison systems are the lifeline to the students we represent," Clark said.

One of Clark's goals is working with the University Park Allocations Committee to turn UPAC into a more democratically elected body.

"I believe these three issues are what we need to better student life at Penn State," Clark finished.

Some senators said they like the idea of having someone new in the leadership position.

"We need some new blood in the Senate — Sean will provide that," said Town Sen. Brendan Holloway.

Two candidates were nominated for the Legislation and Appropriations Review Committee chairperson. LARC is responsible for reviewing legislation before it reaches the senate floor.

Town Senators Lauren Applegate and T.J. Kokolis both ran for LARC chairperson, with Kokolis winning the position.

Kokolis doesn't want to use Robert's Rules of Order, a book the Senate follows to run their meetings.

"Robert's Rules, it's 700 pages long — far too complicated for a student body such as USG," Kokolis said.

During the meeting, Town Sen. Jennifer Radel was named Research and Action Committee chair. Radel's position will require her to interview students and research problems they may have, both on and off campus.

Holloway ran unopposed for the Senate Appointment Review Board. The SARB chairman interviews candidates for different positions, such as the executive cabinet that the Senate then votes on. SARB collects all applications, conducts interviews, ranks the applicants and submits a brief explanation on its views of the applicants.

Town Sen. Joe Petka also ran unopposed for the Political Action Lobbying Committee. The PALC chairman works to lobby administration as well as state legislators about issues concerning students.