I am sick and tired of the Daily’s negative editorials and columns about our student leaders. My mother used to say “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” In the case of the Daily, we can replace the word “nice” with “reasonable, intelligent or thoughtful.”

The Editorial Board’s constant barrage on our fellow classmates and community leaders is far from appropriate.

The Daily’s attacks are driving a wedge between our elected leaders and the “Friley denizen,” as the board so gracefully put it in Wednesday’s editorial.

The Government of the Student Body is mostly run by students who go relatively uncontested into office due to overwhelming student apathy toward anything that doesn’t include the catch phrases “keg registration,” “Intelligent Design” or “tuition hikes.”

Little competition leads to little campaigning, which puts “Friley denizens” out in the cold. Student leaders have been trying to reach out to “Friley denizens” for years now.

Countless public forums have been held on topics from Veishea to keg registration, with minimal response from students outside of the mainstream ISU leadership. Angry letters and repetitious opinion columns have proven to be usually moronic and vastly ineffective.

Students should vote, and contact their representatives to get whatever change they think is necessary. “Friley denizens,” although an important piece in our student community, aren’t leading this charge.

The whole attitude of the student body has shifted from the late ’80s and early ’90s. More students are living in isolated Hunziker/Cochran bungalows to escape former principles of community, civil service, philanthropy, brotherhood and sisterhood. Many students limit themselves to the clubs or activities that they think will boost their resume and require minimal genuine effort.

Although Dance Marathon, the Blood Drive and other events produce consistently outstanding philanthropic results, there remains plenty of room for more students to set aside their personal and career goals and give back to a world that hurts in ways most of us will never know.

In his inaugural address in January of 1961, John F. Kennedy urged Americans to “. Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country!” We, as the student body, must stop complaining about problems at Iowa State and what other people should do to fix them, and take action ourselves to solve them.

For example, one could encourage high school seniors from one’s hometown to visit and consider attending Iowa State, and even offer them a place to crash for the weekend.

Meanwhile, the social dynamic continues to shift from building Veishea floats and Campaniling to mind-numbing Internet video games and jungle-juice orgies on Hunt Street.

We must together climb out of our Legacy, Sterling and Stanton iso-chambers and realign ourselves with the principles of a true community.

The negativity in the newspaper is not helping. If GSB is playing house, The Daily is piling up the dirty dishes.

Alex Zikra

Senior

Construction engineering