Voting every two years and fundraising with a student club are not the only activities at students’ disposal to leave an impact on the world or political policy. One group, the ISU Ambassadors, which is part of the Government of the Student Body, exists for that purpose. Their purpose is the representation of ISU students to the state legislature and the Board of Regents.

To that end, Regents Day has been an annual affair where the ISU Ambassadors and as many students as possible go to the Capitol building in Des Moines and meet with and get to know the men and women who make our laws and spend our money.

While their agenda this year may have been small, getting it adopted — or at least seriously considered — by the representatives and senators in Des Moines has been a resounding success. Such successes, though small, rest on a rapport that students and legislators have built through interaction. Going forward, even more meaningful success might be decided upon based on the same kind of interaction. Indeed, providing that kind of action was one of the ISU Ambassadors’ major goals this year.

Protesting tuition is not the only thing students can do. To illustrate this often neglected point, consider the recent action by a House committee. In order to finally obtain some answers about the spending done by Iowa State, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa, to obtain answers about tuition decisions and to hold the Regents more accountable for their spending, all the committee members — Republicans and Democrats alike — voted to freeze tuition rates for 2012-2013.

You might be wondering what students might have to do, if anything at all, with the business of the House appropriations committee. Well, according to Rep. Chip Baltimore (R-Boone), “The Ambassadors’ presence at the Capitol most certainly helped put [students’] concerns into focus with [legislators].”

Knowing that, how can we stay here, in all likelihood skipping class, and do nothing? One British politician around the time of the American Revolution said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” While the stakes are not nearly that high — at least, we do not believe that the cost of college is not a matter of good and evil — the principle still applies.

By themselves, ordinary students and, overall, ordinary people are less than powerful. It is very difficult for one person or one vote to change anything. Acting in conjunction with others, however, we become a body that should be taken seriously. Events such as Regents Day are just such an opportunity.