The Government of the Student Body addressed student concerns and questions about the new Student Organization Recognition Policy on Wednesday night.

Laura Bestler-Wilcox, assistant director of student activities, presented the plan to the senate. She said she received feedback from five senators about the policy.

Bestler-Wilcox, who is also the chairwoman of the implementation team charged with developing the policy, said an ad hoc committee of students, staff and faculty researched the student organization registration and recognition policies of universities across the nation. She said the committee determined Iowa State’s policies were not “up to par” with the other institutions.

The new policy would require student organizations to have a minimum of five listed members, write a constitution and have the organization’s officers and advisers complete a training component. The current policy requires two students to form an organization.

Bestler-Wilcox said out of the 685 registered organizations at Iowa State, only 50 to 100 have fewer than five members.

“If an organization only has one or two members, is that truly an organization?” she said.

Bestler-Wilcox said requiring groups to have a constitution registered with the Student Activities Center will help organizations structure how they want to conduct elections or deal with an officer who was not completing their duties. She said she gets complaints each semester from groups who want to remove an officer but do not have a set procedure to do so.

Bestler-Wilcox said there is no policy stopping her from telling groups that they cannot be a recognized organization at Iowa State, but she has never stopped a group from organizing.

“We are a forum of ideas. That’s what a public institution is all about.”