As the semester comes to an end, Undergraduate Student Government (USG) executives are reminiscing over the months of controversy, debate and work that resulted in completely reformed student representation.

"It was the most successful year ever," former USG President Galen Foulke said. "I thought last year was really, really good, but this year surpassed it."

Foulke and former USG Vice President Luke Adams are responsible for the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA), which will replace USG as the official student voice next semester.

"The most important thing we did was make a form of student representation that works again," Foulke said. "Students haven't really had a voice for the past few years, and hopefully, that changes."

He added that although he and Adams ran on other platform goals, implementing UPUA became a priority over issues such as creating a system to monitor wait times at campus dining facilities.

"Luke's and my purpose in being in office the second time was getting rid of USG and implementing UPUA," he said. "We got a lot of stuff done in the meantime, but ... we focused on UPUA."

Foulke added that there were tensions between USG branches this semester that prohibited some progression and made UPUA implementation difficult.

"I don't think we tried to leave a legacy," he said. "We just tried to fix something we knew was broken."

However, some senators feel that the executives were unproductive this semester.

"Their goal was to destroy USG," former USG Senate President Andy Banducci said. "In my idea, it was unproductive; they achieved only one of their goals by implementing UPUA."

Banducci added that the attention UPUA required drew focus away from other student issues.

"It just seemed that everything coming out of executive was negative," he said. "They did not put USG out there in a positive way."

Banducci said that although his comments may seem bitter after the implementation of UPUA, he continues to disagree with Foulke's actions.

"I feel that that was a sad chapter in USG's history, but is one that's already being redeemed," he said. "People who voted for [Foulke] expected to get a strong USG, not an advocacy committee. It was different from what students expected."

Current USG President Nick Stathes and Vice President Pat Daley have been actively working with the other USG branches and have continued to add students to their executive cabinet since their election March 29.

About two weeks ago, they met with Penn State President Graham Spanier and Vice President for Student Affairs Vicky Triponey, when the administrators suggested that Stathes and Daley reconsider their obligation to USG and run for executive positions in the UPUA elections next fall.

"They basically encouraged me, especially because they felt that if I ran [for UPUA] and won, the transition would be even smoother than someone else," Stathes said.

Triponey said she and Spanier would support Stathes and Daley if they decided to transition into UPUA in the fall -- but the administration was not offering any tangible benefits or endorsements.

"[Spanier] encouraged him," Triponey said. "If he thinks he was elected as the student leader, he should run for the official voice, simply advising [Stathes] that he would be welcome."

Although Stathes said he and Daley are weighing all of their options, they plan to continue with USG until their executive term ends.

"We made an obligation to USG, and USG is, as we see it, a much better opportunity and organization that will best represent students -- better than UPUA," Stathes said.