I thought Nicolai Brown’s Jan. 23 column “GSB involvement helped pass keg ordinance,” was very insightful concerning the Government of the Student Body’s ineffectiveness at fighting keg registration. Brown goes wrong, however, when he focuses solely on GSB when the problem he describes is systemic at every level of Iowa State and beyond. The GSB leaders are only mimicking what they see as “the way people do things around here.”

In the book “The Shadow Organization in Logistics: The Real World of Culture Change and Supply Chain Efficiency,” Jo Ellen Gabe and Saul Pilnick describe this type of behavior as “pseudopower.”

“Pseudopower” is the exertion of managerial power that is not tied to production of the end result. Rather, it is tied to completion of tasks and fulfillment of duties.

Prior to reading this book, I had claimed that all of our hard work around binge drinking and rioting was not addressing the underlying cause. Now I see why. In passing anti-riot rules, Iowa State looks like it is protecting the campus but isn’t actually doing anything to stop rioting. Now, the Story County Board of Supervisors has passed a law, which few are convinced will reduce alcohol consumption, so they can say to the electorate that they have actually done something to change drinking behavior.

Iowa State and local government are stuck in the “old system” approach where everybody engages in “pseudopower” in order to look like they are actually achieving something meaningful.

Where do you think the GSB learns this garbage? I hope readers now see that the type of behavior Brown objects to comes right from the top. Again, this is why I am calling on management at Iowa State to embrace business practices that attack the underlying culture flaws of the organization.

Jon Shelness

Alumnus

Ames