The time has come for Penn State students to vote for the next round of Undergraduate Student Government leaders.

It's been an interesting year; one filled with what some would consider being the antithesis of mature actions expected from student leaders.

Galen Foulke (junior-pre-medicine) and Luke Adams (junior-pre-medicine) were elected last year under the premise that they were young, full of potential and ready to get the job done.

They were elected on the premise that USG didn't do enough for Penn State students as a whole because too many members were trying to play politics, and that they would do a better job.

They were elected on the premise that they would revise the constitution in an attempt to resolve the in-fighting and games that have plagued our student representatives for years.

Instead, shrouding themselves in the excuse that Foulke's impeachment in November hindered the constitutional review process, they released the basis of their platform -- the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) -- only a few days before the election after holding positions in office for almost one full year.

Coincidental? Perhaps.

The intent of Foulke and Adams to have a more advocate-oriented term has fallen short of its goals: Their main, long-term policy has been the Constitutional Review, which is by definition an internal USG matter. And if this is how they intended to achieve greater student advocacy, they should have proposed this in October, utilized the current administration threat to form UPUA on its own, and then actually dealt with our issues.

This has left the only real accomplishments being dealing minute details that in reality will not fix the major problems at this university.

And refraining from incorporating long-term goals on these subjects is a mistake. In short, the ticket has not lived up to expectations.

Though all of the other candidates' platforms are well intentioned, however, it is important to note that there are inherent weaknesses in all the platform goals proposed by the challengers, just as there are with all candidates running for the job.

With that considered, and with caution, The Daily Collegian endorses Mahmoud Ablan (junior-political science) for USG president and Kyle Aucker (junior-industrial engineering) for USG vice president. Ablan should add a new dimension to the current stale and questionably effective student government system.

The Collegian's Board of Opinion did not have an opportunity to interview Aucker because of the Easter holiday on Sunday. Nevertheless, Ablan's strengths were enough to put him ahead of the rest of a very weak pack.

Ablan and Aucker began their leadership experience at Penn State Schuykill -- Ablan as Student Government Association (SGA) president and Aucker as SGA Senate chairman.

Ablan also currently serves as the co-chair for student issues for the Commission on Racial/Ethnic Diversity (CORED) -- the committee responsible for presenting the proposal requesting MLK Day off in concurrence with other institutions -- to Penn State's administrative staff.

Some of Ablan and Aucker's main platforms include working to reduce the cost of liability insurance for all greek organizations (including the Multicultural Greek Council and honors fraternities), initiating mandatory diversity and sexual assault training for student leaders and working to implement a fixed tuition rate for incoming freshmen.

Some would consider mandating sexual assault training for student leaders as a goal too lofty in its scope or simply as an initiative that has failed in the past that is by its nature doomed to fail in the future.

But something must be done to address such issues, and with Ablan's experience on CORED, it seems as though a closer relationship between USG and various student groups involved with this problem will begin. Hopefully all involved will become more willing to work together on behalf of all Penn State students, which is, after all, what our USG representatives are really for. Right? And just as no one had all good ideas, no one had all bad ones.

Each of the candidates had individual merits that Ablan and Aucker should consider when sitting down to discuss policy and platform implementation. Such platforms include Foulke and Adams' USG dissolution, replacing it instead with the UPUA, a formula they hope will create less government and more advocacy on behalf of students. Ablan and Aucker should consider this proposal, because in all likelihood, some of the in fighting and tensions may be alleviated with this new plan, thus causing more productivity during their tenure.

Other good ideas from other candidates include Robert Dinkelspiel's (junior-business management) and Joseph Budd's (junior-finance) interest regarding weekly "fireside chats" in the HUB-Robeson Center with students, as well as a weekly radio address.

Both would be in an effort to take student concerns seriously, while at the same time keeping the student body informed regarding their progress, new initiatives and decreasing student apathy regarding student-elected representatives.

Scott Sherbine's (junior-communciation arts and sciences) and Alex Ibrahim's (sophomore-political science) desire to raise awareness within a predominantly apathetic student body to increase the success of lobbying trips to Harrisburg are as well-founded as they are important.

Mark Tattichi's (sophomore-political science and economics) and Rodney Hughes' (sophomore-economics) goal of lowering tertiary costs associated with attending college by such measures as putting textbook lists online, thus increasing accessibility and ease to students, should they choose to shop online for more affordable textbooks, is interesting as well as more student-minded.

It is the opinion of this board that Ablan should lead the next, and possibly last, year of USG.