The Government of the Student Body has experienced a rebuilding year, with nearly a third of its senators new to the Legislative Branch.

“One difference between this senate and previous senates is that this year’s senate has less special committees because of its many new members,” said Angela Groh, GSB president and senior in political science. “The three individual committees are doing an excellent job – there is just a very different dynamic this year.”

The student-elected senate has had a great deal of debate this year, however the executive-picked cabinet accomplished many goals, which raises questions about senate-cabinet relations, said Emily Jensen, GSB Chief of Staff and presidential candidate.

“The senate focused a lot on internal change: bylaws, senate rules and structure,” Groh said. “That is good, but they could use more student initiative and innovation to actually represent the student body.”

Members of both the senate and the cabinet have acknowledged that this year’s senate has not achieved as much as they intended to accomplish.

“I think we could have been more productive,” said Jason Stanek, graduate student senator and graduate student in electrical and computer engineering.

Stanek emphasized that he feels the executive committee has done an outstanding job this year. He also noted that many of the accomplishments of the senate go unnoticed by the student body, but work for their benefit.

“It would have been helpful to have a leader within the senators to keep us working together more,” Stanek said. “I don’t think we had that.”

The GSB cabinet, selected by the Executive Branch, also has strong opinions about this year’s senate.

“The senate mainly allocates funding for the students,” said Jensen, junior in political science. “The cabinet gets to show more tangible benefits by working more directly with students.”

She said that although there is some tension between the cabinet and senate, she thinks relations between the factions are good.

“There are different sides of each issue and debate is a natural process. There is always room for improvement in relations to overlap on more issues,” Jensen said.

She said that although it’s hard to jump right into a position, she thinks senators have done a good job.

Groh, Jensen and Stanek expressed they were very proud of the work GSB has accomplished this year, however, there is still room for improvement.

“We can improve as an organization in transition,” Groh said. “That is the lesson that can be taken out of this year – and help GSB become more proactive.”

The GSB general election will be March 3 to 6. Students are encouraged to vote online at Vote.iastate.edu.