A commission to reform student government held an open forum last night to announce its recommendations for restructuring the Undergraduate Student Government (USG).

"There are a slew of problems in USG," said Jeff Corbets, the student chair of the commission. "Mostly because it is modeled after the U.S. government. We want to emphasize a student advocacy, not a student government."

He added that Penn State's student government is one of few collegiate governments in the country that still has a governmental focus instead of an advocacy purpose.

The commission proposed an entirely new structure of student government at Penn State. Instead of the current bicameral system, which has a Senate and an Academic Assembly, the commission proposed a University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA).

The new structure would contain an elected president and vice president, and a 34-member student cabinet -- 12 students elected by the students in their college, four appointed by the greek councils, three representatives elected by residence halls students, six elected by off-campus and non-greek students, one representative of University Park Allocation Committee and six seats open for any student.

These 34 students would chair the standing committees: academic affairs, special events/programming, diversity/campus relations, facilities, governmental affairs, internal development and legal affairs.

Corbets said he hopes to hold UPUA elections by spring 2006. If the USG Senate and the Academic Assembly do not embrace these changes, he added, there is a possibility Penn State President Graham Spainer, the Board of Trustees, the Faculty Senate and Student Affairs will decide this form of advocacy is best for students and enact the changes themselves.

East Halls Sen. Matt Ritsko said structural changes will not fix the problems inherent in USG: student apathy.

"The system hasn't failed, the people have failed the system," he said.

The other concerns raised with the new system were the length of the meetings, the absence of the USG Supreme Court, and the lack of checks and balances.

Academic Assembly President Mark Levin said it is naïve to assume that everyone will get along by simply altering the structure.

"There are serious concerns to consider before this is embraced," Levin said.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Emily de Mers said dissolving the USG Supreme Court would be very unfortunate.

However, USG President Galen Foulke said the changes were planned well.

"I am grinning like a proud father," he said. "I am overwhelmingly pleased."