Former Undergraduate Student Government President and Vice President Matt Roan and Kelly O'Brien and members of the 31st Congress wrapped up their year last week, turning over the administration to USG President and Vice President Justin Zartman and Amanda Hudnall and the 32nd Congress.

We appreciate the work Roan and O'Brien did this year, but we also see ways in which they could have done more. Roan and O'Brien's administration oversaw an unusual year at Penn State — a year filled with opportunities for the administration to further the roles and influence of student leaders at the university. Unfortunately for Penn State students, our USG leaders did not take advantage of too many of those chances. We hope the incoming administration will learn from this year's missed opportunities and better represent students in times of crisis next year.

This academic year has been full of student issues and problems that USG needed to address. In September, a male student entered several unlocked female dorm rooms, assaulting six women and heightening the on-campus safety concerns of many students. In October, several black students received racist e-mails, which turned out just to be the beginning of a year of race-related problems and expressed concerns on campus.

Penn State also came under fire this year from state Rep. John Lawless, R-Montgomery, and other state legislators for student-run events such as Cuntfest and the Sex Faire. And last month the university made negative headlines again, this time for the third riot in four years on East Beaver Avenue.

All of these problems demanded a public response from our student leaders. Although USG did work toward improving safety in the dorms and discussed racial problems on campus, we were disappointed by the lack of visibility the student leaders had in these and other problems this year. Roan and some other USG members attended the appropriation hearings in Harrisburg, but where were they when Lawless was touring the Sex Faire and denouncing Penn State on campus?

The university and its funding were under attack, and USG's administration and members should have done more to represent Penn State students. This year was full of opportunities for Roan and O'Brien to show leadership and extend the responsibilities of their positions. We expect more from next year's USG. In the coming year, we hope Zartman and Hudnall will have more visibility, show more leadership in tough times and have more of a presence when controversial or sensitive issues arise.

We recognize and appreciate the time and hard work of Roan, O'Brien and the rest of USG this year. However, we also see how the administration could have been stronger. We hope next year's USG will learn from past mistakes and better represent Penn State students.