As one of four Inter-Residence Hall Association senators on the ISU Government of the Student Body, we are always talking about consistency and setting a precedence with the way we vote. I think that the ISU students need to know that the student body senate has been contradicting ourselves. Because of this, good clubs on campus will suffer. Veteran members of GSB will have you believe that GSB does not fund first-year clubs, but they would be wrong.

This semester, GSB funded the recreational softball club $1,974.24 for helmets, catchers gear, umpires, balls and lodging for home games. That passed 27-5 in August. Later, GSB voted down 20-13 a bill for music equipment for a first-year club designed to accommodate all music tastes for $2,095. Contradiction No. 1. The week before fall break, a bill came up to vote on whether GSB should fund 20 helmets at $25 a helmet for a total of $500. The ISU Recreational Hockey Club is also a first-year club and, during the GSB fall allocation session, was given money to rent ice at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena. After a lengthy debate, the bill passed 21-14-1.

So to recap, GSB funded first-year clubs 2-1, so it appeared to me going into Thanksgiving that GSB was making the right decision to fund great groups at Iowa State no matter how long they have been formed. However, the GSB President, Dakota Hoben, decided to take it upon himself to determine what precedence to set and vetoed the ISU Hockey Helmet’s bill on Monday, Nov. 28. To quote Mr. Hoben on the email he sent to the GSB Senate, “It is for these reasons that I have chosen to deny Hockey Club the funding for their helmets because they are a first-year group,” which leads me to wonder: Why he would veto this bill because it is a first-year group while the ISU Softball Club got to keep its funding?

It appears that Mr. Hoben only likes consistency and precedence at his choosing and not in the hands of the 35-plus senators that serve the student body. This Wednesday, I will motion to override his veto and whether or not I get enough votes in senate to overturn the veto, I will be fighting for the clubs and organizations that are a benefit to our university.