As a member of the male race – this can sometimes be irksome and unorthodox to admit – but perhaps the women on campus may actually be on to something. My stomach used to writhe at the sight of the Ugg boots, which have become the footwear of choice for the “uniform” of the sorority sweetheart: consisting of the Australian boots, any pair of jeans that can be substituted at anytime by a pair of “PINK” Victoria’s Secret sweatpants (a great Valentine’s gift), a North Face jacket (underlying hooded sweatshirt optional) and a Coach purse.

But maybe I’ve been looking at this the wrong way. Because when a girl tucks her jeans into her boots, it might be a good idea after all.

The city of Ames doesn’t seem be in any rush to plow its roads, much less salt the walkways – and sometimes the ISU grounds crew likes to keep pace. It seems the women on campus have inadvertently taken things into their own hands and put their boots on. Perhaps fashion and function actually were combined when the seemingly useless Ugg boot phenomenon came into style many years ago.

And since Ames’ plan for snow removal is to wait for the sun to come out, perhaps I can make a suggestion to our glorious city council that could help out their citizens since they seem quite incapable of properly operating a snowplow.

I hope you are all aware of the travesty and the hypocrisy of the practice of fining residents who don’t plow the sidewalks in front of their houses. But since that money is there – along with fine money from having couches on the lawn and from having too many people living in a house – why not put good use to it and act on their socialist tendencies by purchasing for each resident of Ames a pair of Ugg boots to stomp around in while we wait for the ice on the roads and sidewalks to melt? Yes, gentlemen, they do make Uggs for men.

Sure, Ames could be like every other town and use some trucks to plow the roads and lay down a mixture of salt and sand, but why would you do that when they could just shovel out some money for our very own sheepskin boots? Not only will our town be safer to walk around, but everyone will look as good as they would if the Sundance film festival came to our winter wonderland. And Ugg boots are known to last long, so the $200 investment (depending on which boot the city would decide to spring for) would carry over for many years and the city would never have to plow the walkways again. It’s brilliant!

For decades to come, our kids will enjoy the fashion that keeps coming back in style, and maybe the idea of free boots will even attract more students to the university. It is clear that while the roads remain covered in thick layers of ice, the benefits of buying each citizen a pair of boots grows more appealing every time I slip as I walk down the sidewalk. So with that, the city council better start shopping. Oh, and I’d like mine in black. Thanks.

– Andrew Gionnette is a senior in mechanical engineering from Chanhassen, Minn.