On Mar. 5 and 6, students will vote for their new student government leaders. We are Brian Phillips and Ian Guffy, and we hope to be those new leaders.

Our dedication to serving students has led us to hard work and experience in chairing committees, organizing meetings and events and working with city and state leaders to represent student interests.

In the upcoming year our administration will take stock of past Government of the Student Body successes, failures and potential areas for growth. First, we will look at what we have succeeded in accomplishing.

We have reached out to orientation classes with a GSB 101 presentation. The new Web site has made it easier for students to be aware of what GSB Senate is doing. We have worked to resolve student concerns with the new Student Organization Recognition Policy. We have funded dozens of campus clubs and organizations. We are discussing ways to reduce the burden of textbook prices with the University Book Store. We have begun investigating campus safety improvements and the potential to help sponsor a new Memorial Union electronic sign, among other accomplishments.

In order to build on this success, we must also recognize our failures as a government.

We recognize it has been difficult to attract and retain quality student leaders. We recognize that students, for the most part, are largely unaware of the services provided by this government. We also recognize that we must double our efforts at lobbying to keep tuition in check in the coming years.

As elected members of your government, we share the blame for these failures. But we will continue to work tirelessly to correct them in the coming months as senators, and we hope to continue our efforts as your President and Vice President.

We believe there are three fundamental issues every student government must address. We hope to explore new ideas as well, but we must be focused on the following priorities:

Students deserve to know what is happening with their government. We intend to build on and improve the GSB 101 concept. It is not enough to say we hold office hours and students are welcome to stop by. We must engage the student body by visiting and sharing ideas. We will speak with groups at every available opportunity to show students what we are doing and to ask for your input.

Students deserve to have reasonable and predictable tuition rates. We must continue to be relentless lobbying efforts. We must work to increase the presence of the other regent universities at the Capitol. While we have no direct control over tuition, we do have the relationships, the dedication and the creativity to develop stronger solutions and to work with the Legislature to try to keep tuition rates affordable and predictable.

All of Ames, but especially Campustown, should be a place everyone can take pride in. We are pleased the city has taken steps to work with students on City Council and the Student Affairs Commission. However, both of these roles are relatively new, meaning it is critical to use these developments to create real changes in our city.

Our overall goal is to fundamentally change the approach to student government. We can only take on real student issues and strengthen our student body through active engagement of students. Neither of us will relent until we have a government that provides the basic services that students deserve. It is time for a fresh start, where quality leadership, experience and skills compliment the issues that are brought to the table. You simply deserve it.

Keep that in mind when you go to vote on Mar. 5 and 6 at www.vote.iastate.edu. Remember also, that senators are also elected on the same ballot we are. Many Senate races will be contested, and in past years a vote or two has been enough to determine which candidate wins. Both a strong Senate and a strong executive branch are needed to strengthen our student government. For more information go to www.phillipsguffy.com.

Vote Phillips-Guffy.

Brian Phillips is a junior in political science from Fremont, Calif. Ian Guffy is a senior in computer science from Des Moines.