Government of the Student Body elections are coming up quickly, and on Monday and Tuesday, you’ll have a chance to decide who will fill the shoes of the current president, vice president and senators. As many of you may know, over the last six weeks, Zach Bauer and I have shared our ideas for a better GSB and a better student experience all across campus. We believe that with better communication, the right projects and initiatives, and strong representation GSB will continue to positively impact the student experience at Iowa State.

We know that GSB has struggled with communication, both internally and externally, over the last few years. Zach and I are determined to resolve these issues to create a cohesive and transparent GSB and to help all students know how they can use GSB to improve their student experience. We believe that GSB will serve students better when it communicates better with the students that it is meant to represent.

As the president and vice president of GSB, we will be searching for innovative ways to improve the student experience. For example, a project to help combat the rising cost of education is our plan to invest in a free e-textbook program for large general education classes — so that students aren’t losing hundreds of dollars for a textbook that may not be relevant to their academic pursuits. We’ve posted just a few of our other ideas on our website — www.rediskebauer.com — and we invite you to check them out. We know that 30,000 minds are better than two when it comes to coming up with ways to improve the student experience, and we hope that you’ll bring your ideas to us for improving the student experience, should we be elected.

However, Zach and I know the limits of our power as GSB executives, and we’ve done our best to develop our platform and campaign entirely within those limits. One issue that has been brought up during this election is the compensation that the GSB Executives (president, vice president and finance director) receive — this is an issue that, while the executives can reject the compensation, the senate has the final say to implement change. We’re not opposed to seeing change and/or restructuring of the compensation, but this is an issue that is outside the power and control of the executive.

Our job, as president and vice president of the Government of the Student body will to be your primary advocates when it comes to student issues on the university, state and even the federal level. We believe that establishing good communication is necessary to expand the number of students that GSB accurately represents; Zach and I will strive to actively get feedback on the student experience at Iowa State and will strive to establish connections with historically underrepresented groups.

We recognize that representing the entirety of the student body at Iowa State is an enormous task, and while we’re up for the challenge, we aren’t planning to go it alone. We’re asking that any student who wants to improve the student experience, not just our cabinet or members of GSB, to partner with us in our quest to build a better student experience.

To begin that partnership vote Dan Rediske and Zach Bauer on Monday and Tuesday at vote.iastate.edu.