Each week, the officers of the Government of the Student Body, senators and executives alike, gather in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union. That building is at the center of student life, as is the originator of all organizations, GSB.

And believe it or not, GSB is indeed a government.

While they cannot exercise judicial authority to put students in prison or fine them for their bad behavior, and while they cannot raise money unless the university and the Iowa Board of Regents approve, they have a very real function. GSB now collects more than $2 million annually in student fees, which it uses to fund student groups and their activities.

Given that they have so much money to spend (at least, in the eyes of a student), it is somewhat surprising that perennial issues of GSB presidential campaigns, year in and year out for decades past, is increasing oversight over GSB and increasing student participation in GSB. Voter turnout in those early March elections is low: seldom more than 10 percent of the student body. Short of actually going to GSB Senate meetings — for your reference, they are held at 7 p.m. every Wednesday — students have little opportunity to interact with their “representatives.”

Participation in the past few years has indeed increased. Looking through Daily stories about election results over the past few years, it is evident that turnout has increased overall. Additionally, beginning last year, senators are required to connect with their constituents by visiting one club each month. Most recently, senators heard from their constituents after a bit of controversy arose about the largely discretionary nature of the Executive Initiative Account and absence of many formal bylaws on it.

At yesterday’s meeting, the senators took another step on the road to putting more oversight and transparency on that account, a road they began to walk down on both their own initiative and in response to constituent concern.

Like all governments that have the power to dispense with property that formerly belonged to others (in this case, your student fees), GSB needs checks and balances. In the hands of an indiscreet president interested more in his or her own gratification rather than the welfare of the student body, the $1,500 Executive Initiative Account could be used for exactly that, and fritter away student money.

Thankfully, that has not yet happened. Students are notoriously disengaged from campus politics and cannot be relied upon to elect presidents of character the same way voters at other political levels more often than not elect representatives, senators, governors and presidents who do not abuse their authority. To guard against the very real possibility that a future GSB president might use the Executive Initiative Account for his or her own benefit and not replenish it, the account merits rules of a benign nature.