This is our university, students.

Everywhere we turn, we are told we are to make our experience at Iowa State exactly what we want it to be. When you really stop and think about it, that statement is one of privilege, one we as students should really capitalize on. This university exists for our benefit, to serve us and the tax-paying citizens of Iowa, and we are allowed to make it what we want it to be.

Why then do we sit back and act like we have no say in the matters of Iowa State?

With enrollment at more than 31,000 students, it’s easy to feel like we’re all just one number out of many. Personalization seems to be thrown aside and suddenly we fall back into the consuming shadows of academics and bureaucratic nonsense, and let the university control our lives.

Sure, there are some things students might not understand about university politics which prevent them from getting more involved. Or maybe Beardshear seems like a foreboding place, too scary to enter except when there’s a problem or when you have to pay your U-Bill. Perhaps walking into your college dean’s office is equally intimidating; lord knows most students are intimidated by just their professors, let alone any variety of administrator.

But therein lies the problem: The anxiety that goes along with visiting any faculty or staff member is usually imagined.

At a recent safety walk around Linden Hall, Tom Hill, senior vice president of student affairs, was seen hanging out with students, listening to their concerns over safety. One student brought up the shoddy volleyball court nearby, and just like that, Hill engaged the attention of Beardshear to the problem and committed his resources to solving it. Similarly, our new dean of students, Pamela Anthony, can be found all about campus on any given day, engaging with students.

One might say dealing with students’ needs is precisely what the vice president of student affairs or Dean of Students Office is for. However, Hill’s and Anthony’s public availability are not unique to the Iowa State administration — it’s actually the norm. With few exceptions (there are crappy people in any job, after all), the staff and administration at this university are wonderful when it comes to being open to students.

It may seem shocking, but such a thing is unheard of at many other universities, where administrative offices really are like ivory towers, unreachable by the lowly student. Ask a transfer student sometime. So with all the problems we may perceive with the operations of this university, we Iowa Staters are blessed with a universal open door policy in any office, anywhere.

It is the wise student who takes advantage of it.