Undergraduates should not be tricked by the pomp and fluff. The real political problem facing undergraduates is right here on campus and in Ames.

Every academic year at Iowa State is a kind of a rebirth. 4,500 fresh-faced greenhorns gallop onto campus assuming the very best of their new handlers. Administrators and top elected officials bump chests and throw high-fives to show how cool they are, the student body president makes sweeping promises, and candy is passed out by smiling and enthusiastic staff. 

Yet, by the end of each academic school year a pall befalls campus where fully two-thirds of students are either angered by the inner working of ISU, or become indifferent to the institution. At the end of the spring term, the same officials who opened the school year with such hope are wringing their hands about trashed facilities, sexual assaults, alcohol deaths and Veishea riots, but seem completely unwilling to examine their own failings in the process.

What undergraduates will learn very quickly is that they are able to complain about and protest against anything in the world except for one glaring exception: the actual, day-to-day functioning of Iowa State itself. To read the newspapers or listen to the criticism of higher education, readers will get the impression that Iowa State is an ultra-liberal institution, but the reality is that the administration of Iowa State is closer to that of China. Don’t be fooled by being in a progressive, university town. The city of Ames and Story County are not much different in their dealings with undergraduates either.

If disaster strikes, like the 2004 Veishea riot, students, professors and staff, hoping for letters of recommendation and promotions, will be used as window dressing to guarantee outcomes. Because of close corporate ties between Gannett Corporation and Iowa State, and a PR department second to none, all reporting by The Des Moines Register will be favorable to the university. If students who are not part of the mainstream student body complain about university operations, they will be marginalized and condescended to. If students run afoul of the academic justice system, depending on the offense, they will learn about kangaroo courts.

Mirroring these same antics are the elected officials of Ames and Story County. They will hold open houses and meet-and-greet events, but the reality is that undergraduates are thought of as second-class citizens, and are given no real say because undergraduates don’t vote. I didn’t hear the Government of the Student Body president call for undergraduates to register locally, only for them to participate in state elections. As a result, the Story County Attorney, Ames City Administrator and ISU Chief Counsel remain trapped in a mind-set of retributive justice — the most egregious offense against undergraduates — even though the United States Department of Justice is overflowing with money for help from places like the Center for Court Innovation, and with proven field programs like the High Point Initiative.

I have been a keen observer of the Iowa State process since the spring of 2003, and I have seen very little to be proud of since graduating. The real message being conveyed to undergraduates is that leaders manipulate the system to maintain their position and status, and that making changes to improve the lot of undergraduates is a bad thing because it might weaken their political positions or even make them obsolete.

The only cure is for undergraduates to take ownership of the local process by demanding changes and voting out people who refuse to bring reforms.

Jon Shelness

Alumnus