The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Supreme Court ruled 4-1 in favor of two USG executive candidates who were accused of violating the 2004 elections code by acquiring campaign items at prices that were not available to the general public.

Sandip Trivedi and Monica Constantino were charged with using a special agreement between Patrick McCool, the owner of Bellefonte-based PAMP Screen Printing, and USG Vice President Takkeem Morgan to obtain copies of campaign fliers and campaign T-shirts at a unit price not available to the general public.

The elections code states that if the real price paid by the candidates is not available to the general public at the time of purchase, the fair market value will be charged.

In the Court's majority opinion, Associate Justice Dina Ross justified the Court's decision by referring to a previous case in which USG President Ian Rosenberger and Vice President Takkeem Morgan were also accused of obtaining campaign T-shirts at a discounted price.

"The Court has determined that receiving a lower price on an item purchased, in respect to another candidate, does not represent an unfair price on that item," Ross wrote in the Court's written statement.

"In the pricing of T-shirts, many factors contribute to the final price, such as quality, color, print, shipping, etc."

Ross said the elections commission did not establish a difference between the Rosenberger/Morgan case and the Trivedi/Constantino case.

Associate Justice Greg Becker wrote the Court's only dissenting opinion.

Becker said the authors of the elections code had a clear reason for stating that the prices candidates pay for campaign items must be available to the general public.

He said Trivedi and Constantino violated the elections code by obtaining a price available to preferred customers, such as Morgan, and not a price available to the general public.

Becker added that the elections code should be re-evaluated to prevent similar disputes from arising in the future.

"Whether this means to abolish the 'real price' section altogether and only allow for 'fair market value' deductions or to allow for all parties to obtain the lowest prices possible and eliminate 'fair market value' is a matter for the legislature to decide," Becker wrote in his written statement.

Head Elections Commissioner Tim Dorman said that the commission decided against pursuing two separate elections code violation cases because the candidates in question did not win the USG election.

Trivedi and Constantino were also charged with violating a room reservation policy.

Mariel Gniewoz and Cameron Lefevre were charged with violating campaign-financing rules by acquiring T-shirts at a reduced price as well.