The defeat of this year's Undergraduate Student Government (USG) elections code by the USG Senate Tuesday night is a great disservice to Penn State students.

Many senators expressed disappointment in changes the USG Supreme Court made to the code when Senate submitted it for approval.

However, just two of the 22 senators present voted against the code, which required a unanimous vote for passage.

While the revised code was not exactly what the Senate had hoped to pass, it was an improvement over last year's rules. The new code would have extended the campaign period from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 weeks.

Senate should have started work on a new elections code earlier in the year. It was first passed in a December meeting, but because there were so few senators present, USG President Rubina Javeri vetoed it. Senate did not pass the code again until Feb. 11, before sending it to the court for review.

Because Tuesday's meeting was the last before spring break and the campaign period begins after break, there will not be another opportunity for Senate to pass the new code. Candidates will now have to abide by last year's rules.

Had the senators started the process earlier in the year, they would have had another chance to pass the new code.

Coincidentally, the two senators who voted against the code, Town Sen. Mike Gallo and South Halls Sen. Mike Jozkowski, are both members of College Republicans.

Gallo also was a part of the conservative coalition in last year's Senate and this year's election will now abide by the code passed by the coalition.

It is unfortunate that candidates will not have the extra week to publicize their platforms and students will not have more time to decide the best people to represent them in USG.

Candidates and interested students should make the most of the short election period to ensure that the most qualified people are elected.