For their first meeting of the year, Government of the Student Body legislators will shut their mouths and open their ears.

No bills are planned for discussion or vote at the Wednesday night meeting — just a speech from Provost Ben Allen, vice president for academic affairs.

William Rock, GSB vice president, said he was not surprised by the empty agenda.

“It’s nothing out of the ordinary,” he said.

Rock said because most student clubs haven’t decided what to request from GSB, a bare agenda is not abnormal.

“Next week we’ll have some stuff on the agenda,” Rock said. “Pretty soon we’ll be back to three-or four-hour meetings.”

Allen will speak about the university’s strategic plan.

The plan provides specific information on the university, including a mission statement, visions, goals and shared values for 2005 to 2010, according to Daily staff reports.

In regular meetings, GSB’s actions are determined by senate-meeting decisions. GSB senate meetings are essentially informational sessions, said Shawn Montague, vice speaker of the senate.

“The Executive Branch gives the senate its weekly report, and each officer gives their report to the senate,” Montague said.

From that point, Montague said, students can speak to the senators and voice their concerns, helping senators understand issues that students feel are important.

Senate bills, orders and resolutions are then brought up and analyzed, Montague said.

There are some meetings when student groups appear to request funding from GSB, which then usually initiates questioning from senators, he said.

“Senators are asking questions of these clubs, because they need information in order to make their decisions,” Montague said.

Though Wednesday night will be the legislative body’s first meeting of the year, it has not been idle since it adjourned in late April.

This summer, GSB was in a planning and organization phase, Rock said. New members were introduced to people they will work with throughout the year, including the university administration and the Ames City Council. GSB officials also networked with fellow student governments at the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa.

Rock said GSB serves as the representation of the Iowa State student body before such entities as the administration of Iowa State University, the Board of Regents and the city of Ames, making contact with those groups vital.

The GSB senate meeting will take place 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union.