When the proposal for a Student Affairs Commission receives its first reading before the Ames City Council on Tuesday night, council members have plenty of reasons to support it. The creation of an advisory group made up of eight student leaders and seven Ames residents has the phrase “one community” written all over it. No council member has a particular interest in thwarting the wishes of Government of the Student Body President Angela Groh or the council’s ex-officio student liaison Tony Borich. Besides, there will probably be a nice photo opportunity at some point down the road.

Nevertheless, the Daily Editorial Board urges City Council members to oppose the commission as it is currently designed.

In discussions beginning last fall, student representatives and city leaders have been negotiating the group’s makeup and mission. They also agreed on City Hall as the location for meetings, so that the deliberations can be taped and televised.

Although the Editorial Board fully supports the intentions of transparency and publicity of the groups work, we are wondering whether the average student will be affected in any way by the group’s work.

Groh claims that the commission will allow for “more immediate access for students to city government.” Really? According to the proposed city ordinance, the eight student members of the commission are limited to the ex-officio student member of the City Council, the presidents of GSB, the Inter-Residence Hall Association and the International Student Council, a Greek leader, an off-campus student leader and two off-campus students. A regular denizen of Friley Hall has no opportunity to serve – a member of an Ames neighborhood association has a greater chance of being chosen for the board than any student.

The commission doesn’t involve students as a whole – it excludes them. By forming an exclusive group of student leaders, the commission does little more than add another meeting for people who already attend a lot of meetings, pad the resumes of those who need no more cushions, and create “one community” of student elites who don’t understand why students are apathetic about city issues.

Groh says the group will “be proactive instead of reactive, so we can solve problems before they get blown out of proportion.”

Because when problems “get blown out of proportion,” students get mad. And when they get mad they get . involved.

Involvement. That’s the missing ingredient in the Student Affairs Commission. We ask the City Council to reject the current proposal, but keep an open ear to the needs of all students.