Concerns about the ISU Alert system were expressed at the Nov. 6 meeting of the Government of the Student Body.

Justin Pearson, sophomore in political science, took the podium to express his opinion on the issue at hand.

Pearson was concerned about the timing of the ISU Alert.

“The ISU alert came out 22 minutes after the incident was over and we pay $40,000 a year to have this program work and have it alert students,” Pearson said.

Pearson said KCCI launched breaking news headlines 15 minutes before the ISU Alert went out.

Pearson said he believed there are a few instances that ISU Alert has been used with discretion and did not put students first on campus.

“We all remember last year, if you were here, like 2:30 in the morning we all woke up cause there was a guy with a stick that had approached nobody on campus,” Pearson said. “But just last month, we had a bomb threat that shut down Beardshear to Parks Library, and no ISU Alert went out.”

Sen. Krista Johnson said students should be informed simply because it was a situation where shots were fired.

“When none of us know that it’s not a shooter, I think it is a situation that students should be informed. I don’t think that it is unreasonable to expect a 160 character text to be sent out to people on the ISU Alert system to prevent a panic,” Johnson said.

Sen. Aimee Burch expressed concerns about the email message going to the spam folder. President Spencer Hughes said the email message can be whitelisted which will prevent it from going to the spam folder.

“It should not happen ever again, and they have already fixed that issue,” Hughes said.

Hughes also said both he and President Steven Leath were in agreement that it was unacceptable that the email went to some spam folders.

Hughes expressed concerns about the wording in the message, that did not specify which party involved fired the shots.

“Hopefully they never send a message like that ever again. I sincerely hope that’s true,” Hughes said.

Hughes also said he met with Leath and Pamela Anthony, dean of students, to discuss Monday’s situation, he expressed his concerns with each of them.

Vice Speaker Barry Snell defended the matter in how the ISU Alert was sent out. He said ISU Alert is not a news service, but rather that is what TV stations and the Iowa State Daily are for.

“The last thing the police department is going to do is send out an ISU Alert with incomplete or incorrect information,” Snell said.

In other events, the GSB City Council liaison spoke about next week’s agenda for the joint meeting of GSB and the Ames City Council. Topics that are expected to be addressed include safety concerns throughout Ames and campus, rental housing concerns, Campustown revitalization and the bike share program.

In other business, GSB passed a debt contract with the Billiards Club. Billiards Club President Andrew Pierce said embezzlement of funds by a previous president has left the club $725 in debt.

Sir Magazine was funded $3,300 to fund 2,000 copies of the issue. The Model UN was given $329.06 to account for an increase in membership since they were given funding last year.