Both Chandra Peterson and Luke Roling, along with their respective running mates, have collected the 1,500 signatures required to run for Government of the Student Body president. This locked in the debate scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Maintenance Shop.

Each team has set goals it would like to achieve during its time in office as well as a list of issues the tandem would like to tackle.

The first area of interest that each party would like to see changes in is Campustown.

Roling said the Varsity Theater is a good step toward Campustown revitalization, and he is in full support of making it work. If students under the age of 21 are spending more time in Campustown, it could attract more businesses.

Roling and his running mate, Nate Dobbels, an agriculture senator, then referred to a survey GSB sent out earlier in the year.

The survey that said students would like to see a theater in Campustown also showed that students wanted to see a grocery store in Campustown.

“We can set our goals, partner with the city and focus into students areas of interest,” Roling said.

Roling and Dobbels have many plans on improving their relationship with the city of Ames on their Web site, including making the GSB and City Liaison position a voting member of City Council.

Roling and Dobbels wrapped up their thoughts about Campustown and said, “The Varsity Theater is a huge, small step toward Campustown revitalization.”

Peterson and her running mate Jacob Wilson — an off-campus senator and vice-speaker of the senate — also have many ideas for the Campustown area.

“Our opposing ticket have been talking about building relations with the city … I feel like I have 10 people who could help me already,” Peterson said of Campustown. “It’s important that I have these relationships already built — we don’t have to move backwards. I’ve already been building relationships for the past two years.”

Peterson then jumped into a few goals she has already accomplished in revitalizing Campustown, and a few plans she has already set.

The Campustown Action Association — for which Peterson wrote the bylaws — was able to get funding from the City Council last week for banners that are going to be displayed in Campustown.

Peterson has also been planning a mural that will be painted on the side of T Galaxy, 206 Welch Ave.

Peterson has been working with Ames City Art on the project that will be designed by students and painted by volunteers.

She mentioned making a map of Campustown and giving tours to Freshman Council.

“There are a lot of great places to eat and shop, places that I didn’t even know about until someone drug me around and showed them to me,” Peterson said.

Peterson would also like to launch a Keep Campustown Clean organization.

The organization would potentially put flyers up in businesses and on the side of trash cans encouraging students to maintain Campustown’s image.

In addition, they would attempt to get more trash cans in Campustown.

Peterson suggested putting in solar trash compactors similar to the ones near Curtiss Hall.

“We could order them and let the Society of Sustainable Engineers put them together, which would be a great project for them,” Peterson said. “Then we could make them flashy and stand out so that students would actually use them.”

Peterson would like to see a place students could drop-off and pickup furniture on move-in move-out days.

Financial debt is another issue that both campaigns were prepared to talk about.

Roling was one of the students who helped developed the peer-to-peer financial education program and was prepared to “keep it rolling.”

“It’s important to be working on money issues in general, reaching out to constituency councils on credit card debt and individual finances,” Roling said.

Roling would like to see more lobbying efforts year-round.

The Roling-Dobbels Web site also lists some goals.

“The ISU Ambassadors organization is an excellent resource we have to accomplish these goals. However, our biggest lobbying day [Regents’ Day at the Capitol] comes after the point legislation is due,” read the Web site. “Nate and I are committed to making our lobbying efforts heard by legislators by taking full advantage of the Regents’ Day as well as providing a stronger year-round push for funding.”

Roling would like to see more direct work with the ambassadors, and said he would “drive home the importance of higher education on the state level.”

He would like to see a unified effort between universities.

“This year it seems like the University of Iowa was doing its own thing, which is not OK. We need to reach a common goal,” Roling said.

Roling said the legislature is not as much under his control as are personal finance issues.

Peterson would use the peer-to-peer financial education seminars to their full potential and reach out to as many students as possible.

“Our goal is to have tuition not increase more than the higher education price index,” Peterson said. “This year it was between 1.8 and 3.5 percent, and it went up 6 [percent]. I don’t think people understand how many students aren’t able to continue on because of financial reasons, which is disheartening.”

She then wanted to make clear that the Student’s Day at the Capitol is not a joke. “It’s not as effective as it could be, but the more students we get to go with us the more students will be heard,” Peterson said.

Peterson also said it is not true that the Student’s Day at the Capitol comes after the time where bills can be submitted.

“[GSB] President [Jonathan] Turk offered to draft the amendment to get the $100 surcharge back to students while we were there this year,” Peterson said.

Wilson did not support the $100 surcharge from the beginning. “Tuition is supposed to be a contract between the university and students. Adding that surcharge broke that contract and student’s trust,” Wilson said.

Peterson said that last year, the ISU Ambassadors were going to the Capitol all year round; this year had just been awkward with budget cuts and deciding what to lobby for. The director of Ambassadors also left mid-year and had to be replaced.

Both campaigns have plans to make Iowa State a more sustainable university.

Roling and Dobbels would like to see Iowa State get a higher grade on the College of Sustainability’s report card next year after only receiving a low B this year.

They plan on doing so by keeping the Green Umbrella Organization going and enrolling the school in Recyclemania next year.

Roling said, “We need to make sure we are maximizing efficiency by making sure every sustainability group is working together and helping them maintain lines of communication.”

Peterson and Wilson got an idea to make Jack Trice a more sustainable place from the Big 12 Conference at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

“The people their football stadium orders food from have switched to green packaging. They convinced Frito-Lay to switch packaging after a threat to stop buying from them,” Peterson said. “It was one of the greenest campuses you could have.”

Peterson has been working with Dr. Tahira Hira and Merry Rankin about possibly starting up a bike share program.

The program would allow students to go in, swipe their ISU cards and use a bike.

Peterson said there are still a lot of legal issues that would need to be worked out for it to work.

She has also been a part of researching to see if a recycling program at Iowa State would be worthwhile. Peterson said there have been projects going on calculating how much of the waste found in trash cans could actually be recycled to see if it is worth starting up a large recycling program on campus.

Peterson is also working on the second annual Sustainability Symposium, National Campus Sustainability Day and launching a lasting sustainability campaign.

Peterson said she and Turk added a director of sustainability, which she didn’t think had been done before.

Wilson said their sustainability goals were bigger than the one year they had in office, and the pair would more than likely start its efforts in the Memorial Union.

Diversity and inclusivity are issues GSB has been working close with after starting up the International Student Council this past year.

Roling and Dobbels said they would continue working with the Mind the Gap campaign.

Roling would like to get random interest groups involved in diversity issues.

“Diversity can mean anything, there are so many interpretations … every student is diverse,” Dobbels said.

Peterson and Wilson have several ideas on how to better recognize the needs of students with varying race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and tradition.

Wilson started by suggesting that changing the name of the director of diversity to the director of diversity and inclusivity would be appropriate.

Wilson would also like to see another director of diversity or sub-director added.

Peterson and Wilson said having diversity events that only international students go to, especially International Students Night, means everyone is missing out.

“Some students will never get the chance to travel the world and this is the best opportunity they will ever have to examine other cultures,” Wilson said.

Another goal of the Peterson-Wilson campaign is to bring safety to Campustown, which Wilson said would be done mostly through education.

Peterson and Wilson are also attempting to get the Midwest Bisexual Gay Lesbian Transgender Alliance College Conference to be held at Iowa State this year; that decision will be made Friday.

“The awesome thing about this campus is that it is a diverse campus … we need to be embracing and encouraging diversity,” Wilson said.

The last issue that both campaigns found important involves reaching out to the student body.

“Asking the GSB for money is an extremely formal and solemn process groups go through to get funding. We are willing to provide a personal touch,” Roling said, adding that GSB isn’t just a bank and should be a group that helps see projects all the way through to the end.

Roling and Dobbels said they wanted to keep up with their blogging after a student posted that he had learned more through their blogging than he had anywhere else.

Peterson and Wilson said student leaders should be approachable and passionate about students.

“If you see us on campus, we want you to say hi,” Peterson said.

Peterson wants more opportunities for events like Late Night at the Memorial Union.

“I remember we were playing pin the clock on the Campanile and we were all having fun … If more students could meet us that way for the first time, it would really improve our relationship with students,” Peterson said.

She added that the GSB display board outside the West Student Office Space was a great first step toward reaching out to students.

An e-mail from William Vincent and the GSB Election Commission urges as many students as possible to attend the debate so that they may pose their questions as well.