The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate passed legislation last night that may enlarge the role of the USG Supreme Court.

According to the resolution, which was passed unanimously, USG will create a page that on its Web site that will allow students to submit "problems with professors, racism, sexism, administrative policies, etc."

Problems that cannot be addressed directly by USG's legislative or executive branches will be forwarded to the USG Supreme Court, which will relay the concerns to the appropriate university entities.

Danielle Traister, chief justice of the USG Supreme Court, said the system could address problems of any sort.

"If you have a problem and you don't know what to do about it, send it to the court," she said.

Traister said that the court may also help resolve disputes that could result from the problems, although the court's decisions would not have any binding legal authority.

Like the United States government on which it is modeled, the USG Supreme Court's official role is to settle constitutional and other judicial disputes within USG.

However, unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, the USG Supreme Court does not have a full court system under it and receives very few USG constitutional cases.

In the past, the USG Supreme Court also had the power to recognize student groups, but the administration took over that responsibility in 2004. The court also reviewed elections code violations during USG elections, but the next USG election will not occur until next spring.

So lately, the USG Supreme Court has had very little to do.

Traister said the court had held a few meetings but was currently looking for "something else" to pursue.

Traister said the new Web page referral system might be that something.

"It's probably going to take up more of our time than anything else," she said.

According to the resolution, the service will be fully functional no later than Nov. 6.

The USG Supreme Court's role in reviewing elections code violations is one of many differences between USG and the new University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA), which held its first meeting last night.

UPUA does not have a supreme court, so the UPUA elections commission has the final authority over all punishments.

Traister said the USG Supreme Court "essential" to USG elections.