GSB Meeting tonight!

[Enginerd]

As an ex-GSB Senator I am very disappointed to learn you have been elected to represent my school when you have no allegiance to it. Show some respect and ditch the hat. I actually kind of feel bad for you. By not committing yourself to the school you attend, you are really missing out and I am not just saying that because of the school you actually root for either. Choosing a school based on it's academics is smart. Rooting for a school you do not attend will never make sense to me unless you just like being "that guy".

[SplitIdentity]

As an ex-GSB Senator I am very disappointed to learn you have been elected to represent my school when you have no allegiance to it. Show some respect and ditch the hat. I actually kind of feel bad for you. By not committing yourself to the school you attend, you are really missing out and I am not just saying that because of the school you actually root for either. Choosing a school based on it's academics is smart. Rooting for a school you do not attend will never make sense to me unless you just like being "that guy".

Thank you Mr. Previous Senator. I have said multiple times that I enjoy seeing ISU win when they aren't playing Iowa. I have plenty allegiance to ISU, thank you very much. The fact that I'm an Iowa fan is completely irrelevant to what type of senator I will be, which, I hope is one that can make this school proud.

I'm glad to see the newer group of senators have loosened up a little bit.

[SplitIdentity]

Enjoy. I did that back in 2004-05.

Are they still utilizing the New Senator's Handbook at all? I tried to create that so that people would have some clue what was going on when they came in (because I sure didn't) but I don't know if anyone kept that going beyond the year after mine.

The position can kind of be what you make of it. It doesn't enable you to do too much more than a regular student as far as a lot of issues go, but it does give you a little more clout when talking with people who might be able to help get things done. If you are like many of the senators I knew, you will go to the meetings, vote a little, and pad your resume while not doing all that much.

There will however be some senators who excel at the position and accomplish some things. While I was there I arranged for the reserve funds to be put in an interest bearing account, resulting a few thousand extra dollars a year. Also, although we couldn't stop it, the advocacy of some of our members was able to get some important changes made to the county keg registration ordinance. We also got the first ever student (Ryan Doll) elected to the Ames City Counsel (although I assume he's graduated by this point). A few of us also tried to get an informational campaign going to get people to consolidate their loans back when interest rates were only 2.85% and not consolidating at that rate meant you were uninformed or financially inept. Unfortunately that didn't really take off like I'd hoped. We also did a lot of stuff to try and get VEISHEA going again since that was the year after the most recent riot.

We also spent much of the year fighting over whether or not to fund a ISU PIRG organization on campus, which eventually resulted in nothing happening. A word of advise as far as what I would do - get in touch with the governments of the other regents institutions and pool some funds to hire a few lobbyists for higher education funding at the capitol. Tuition at ISU when up almost 60% in just the four years I was there. There have been multiple attempts to get student leaders to lobby effectively, and they have all eventually fizzled, because there is simply too much transition in the college ranks. A consistent presence could save students some money.

You will find that it is next to impossible to organize a large group of students to do just about anything (e.g. vote) because most don't care. I think this is in large part due to the transitory nature of the group you represent. For example, even though the population of Ames is almost always 50% students, about 20% of that group leaves every year to be replaced by new people, and every 5 years or so the vast majority of the student population is different than it was before. This also means that there is very little institutional memory. Mary (your office manager) can be your best friend from this standpoint.

Thank you for your suggestions! Obviously, I'm very new at the position (and I think I was just one of 20 newbies), so I wasn't the only clueless one there. But we did get a binder with guidelines on how the entire process works, and suggestions and what not. Maybe that's what you are talking about?

Of course, I'm not a senator for the title. In fact, it's somewhat of a funny story that I actually got elected. But I'm really excited to learn more about the process, and just kind of see what bureaucracy is all about. Tonight's 3.5 hour meeting where people would make a debate longer by objecting was an eye opening experience to how frustrating the entire process can be.

[Kyle]

Thank you for your suggestions! Obviously, I'm very new at the position (and I think I was just one of 20 newbies), so I wasn't the only clueless one there. But we did get a binder with guidelines on how the entire process works, and suggestions and what not. Maybe that's what you are talking about?

Of course, I'm not a senator for the title. In fact, it's somewhat of a funny story that I actually got elected. But I'm really excited to learn more about the process, and just kind of see what bureaucracy is all about. Tonight's 3.5 hour meeting where people would make a debate longer by objecting was an eye opening experience to how frustrating the entire process can be.

That binder is presumably the new senator's handbook thing I mentioned. When I started we didn't get crap.

Many people do make the meetings far longer than they should be. If you have anything you want to get done it is to your advantage to introduce it to people and get some support before the meetings rather than to try and explain it for the first time at them. Even if it is a good idea, people can be afraid of what they are not familiar with.

[PolkCityClone]

And yours truly is a senator.

I'm pretty stoked - should be interesting to see how the GSB runs.

Gay, Sexless or Bi? I wouldn't brag about being a senator.

[bmuff]

LOL, no need to remind me. Being a Hawkeye fan is completely separate of what I want to see out of Iowa State. I'm an Iowa Stater for a reason.

Good job separating sports from academics. ISU is a great school and Ames is a great city. I guess even if you can't support ISU sports, you can support the univerity? Do some good on GSB!

[flynnhicks03]

Basiclly you'll sit around, think you've accomplished something when all you've really done is pad your resume. In the end though isn't you're resume all that really matters?

Edit: Nevermind, didn't read far enough.

[cyingreen]

From Southern Hawk: Also, I like ISU's campus over Iowa's. Hands down a better campus.__________________

uofi has a campus? oh, yeah, that's right, the whole town is the campus. Good choice and reasoning, SH. And good luck with the GSB. Just remember, few are called, and fewer care. One more thing, you said you enjoy seeing Iowa State win. Is that the same thing as rooting for the Cyclones? When they aren't playing the uofi, of course.

[ornryactor]

Oh for pete's sake, you people need to get a life. You're going way out of your way to pick on SouthernHawk, and are doing it in a nonsensical manner. Use a little rational thought, folks. Yeah, he's a Hawk fan. We get it. That's been established. He's also said from the beginning that though he's a Hawkeye athletics fan, he's also an Iowa State student and proud to be so. In this thread alone, he's also mentioned that despite rooting for the 'other guys' he realizes that his degree program is much better at ISU than at UI or UNI. That's a damn respectable decision- people should be choosing their college based on academics and how successful their desired program is, not on what the mascot is.

So seriously? Let's get back to discussing GSB. If you want to bash that, it's freakin' open season until they give us reason to do otherwise. Enjoy.

[BryceC]

I really encourage everybody to go to one of these.

Why? I've been to a GSB meeting, and the stench of smug was so strong I could barely breath.

[cytech]

Why? I've been to a GSB meeting, and the stench of smug was so strong I could barely breath.

Were they all driving hybrids? And enjoying the smell of their own farts?

[keepngoal]

Good job separating sports from academics. ISU is a great school and Ames is a great city. I guess even if you can't support ISU sports, you can support the univerity? Do some good on GSB!

I love it when threads resurrect from 6 weeks prior.

-keep.

[ISUFan22]

I love it when threads resurrect from 6 weeks prior.

-keep.

Nah...I love this kind of crap even more. Shows a real lack of any sort of intelligence....

Gay, Sexless or Bi? I wouldn't brag about being a senator.

[Splendid]

Thats a heck of an honor Hawk, your world view is conservative so you are ok in my book. You also have some Al Gore in you, wasn't he the one that would debate endlessly and just plain wear the opposition down by not backing off?

[dustinal]

I love it when threads resurrect from 6 weeks prior.

-keep.

Nah...I love this kind of crap even more. Shows a real lack of any sort of intelligence....

Gay, Sexless or Bi? I wouldn't brag about being a senator.

Agreed. When I was at ISU, I had far more respect for (most) of the students who got involved in GSB than the ones who *****ed about things like student fees and campus policies but did nothing about it.