The departing Government of the Student Body president is leaving her position after accomplishing much of what she set out to do.

Emily Jensen, GSB president and senior in political science, said the issues she and Sara Faber, vice-president and senior in public service and administration in agriculture, ran their campaign on were communication, tuition and the Multicultural Center.

Jensen said improved communication has been developed through the new GSB Web site with its blog and the new GSB 101 presentation presented to a number of different groups and orientation classes.

Jensen said she measures communication success with students through a number of different ways.

“We’ve seen significant feedback,” she said.

Coverage and student awareness of GSB have also helped measure if GSB’s communication efforts have gotten through to students, Jensen said. During GSB Week, Jensen said a number of students wanted to know how to get involved in GSB or just talk about the organization.

The GSB Web site, which was launched last semester, was made to be more user-friendly. Although some senators did not keep their profiles updated, Jensen thought the new Web site did help with providing information to students.

The Multicultural Center fee passed through the Board of Regents in December, and the center itself is currently in the planning stages, Jensen said. She said this was an important issue for her because many students wanted a center on campus and also she wanted an area for students of all races and perspectives to connect with one another and the university.

“I’ve heard a lot of criticism that Iowa State isn’t a diverse campus and that we have diversity issues and challenges for students that are here from different perspectives and backgrounds,” she said. “I think the Multicultural Center is really a way to combat that stigma.”

ISU Ambassadors and GSB worked closely this year to keep the rate of tuition at the inflationary rate, Jensen said. Student debt loads, faculty pay and the tobacco tax were all issues the students lobbied for this year. Jensen said there would be a significant amount of state appropriations this year. She said although new leadership may have contributed to this, GSB still made an impact.

“I think that Ambassadors really did make a significant effort to change student lobbying,” she said.

Jensen said ISU Ambassadors talked to different legislators and asked for advice on how to lobby.

“We got significant feedback and ambassadors really changed their approach because of that,” she said.

Diversifying their issues, bringing different students down to lobby and getting alumni involved in the lobbying process were all methods used this year, Jensen said.

Brian Phillips, president-elect and junior in political science, said Jensen and Faber were “well-experienced” regarding their administration.

He also said the amount of work the two put into the job was impressive.

Phillips said Jensen and Faber had a real understanding of how the university worked and were “creative at solving problems.”

“They knew what they were doing,” he said.

Ian Guffy, vice president-elect and senior in computer science, said he wished the executive branch had communicated with the senate more.

“I feel that [the] senate could have been used as a better resource for gathering student opinion than it was,” he said.

Jensen said the different branches do need to work together, but also separately.

“I think it is important that the branches work together, but it’s also important there is some differentiation because that’s why there are different branches,” she said.