This January in Iowa has been a mixed bag as far as weather is concerned. Some days, freezing rain coats the sidewalks with a layer of ice, making travel impossible if your ice skating skills are not up to par. On those days, anyone who ventures onto the ice rink that is the ISU campus lacking the skills of a 2010 Winter Olympian deserves a red badge of courage. We value our education, but we also value our intact bones. Sliding across campus just to take a long winter’s nap in a speech communication lecture just doesn’t seem worth the risk sometimes.

Other January days we’re met with a heat wave of 33 degrees Fahrenheit. On these days, the ice that once struck fear in our hearts melts into puddles large and majestic enough to rival Lake Laverne.

Navigating your way across these small bodies of water is best done by inflatable raft, a resource not usually at our disposal. Instead, we are forced to wade through the puddles and endure sopping wet socks and shoes.

Not only does this ebb and flow of inclement weather take a toll on our motivation to brave the elements, this freezing and re-freezing is hard on our cars.

The conveinience of having a car at school is often offset by the frustrations met with having a vehicle that won’t start. Freezing temperatures transform our cars into tiny glaciers. In these cases, it’s better to resort to using CyRide.

But sometimes, taking the bus won’t cut it. What’s left to do, then, if your car is encased in ice and won’t start? Or it just up and dies while you’re out and about?

Luckily, we have campus services like the HelpVan to aid with immobile vehicles. But only if you’re on campus when your car breaks down.

The HelpVan service promises to come to the rescue in the event of “dead batteries, flat tires and empty gas tanks,” according to the Department of Public Safety Web site. But for anyone who has ever owned a car, you know that if your car breaks down, it will always happens in the most inopportune location. And the liklihood of a broken-down car is elevated with the inconsistent weather.

Many students, especially those who live in the greek community, park their cars in areas that are designated as off-campus, although they may be closer than areas actually considered ISU property, like the stadium or “Towers.” These students are left to fend for themselves.

If your car breaks down on Lincoln Way and University Boulevard, for example, you’re on your own. Even though you could probably throw a rock and hit an on-campus building. Members of the edit board have experienced this frustration first-hand, and the Opinion section has printed numerous letters to the editor stating the same.

Therefore, we propose that the HelpVan extend its roadside assitance to what we have deemed “student service areas.” These include the greek community, roads students travel on frequenlty like Lincoln Way, University Boulevard and Welch Avenue, for example.

Ames is not a sprawling metropolis. Would extending the HelpVan roadside assistance service be that much of an issue? This is a student service issue we’re talking about here, not a campus service issue. If DPS can start operating based on helping students as opposed to servicing zones of a city, maybe, in return, we can stop our whining.