A professional organization on campus designed to help students advocate solutions to social problems on their behalf may be re-established at Iowa State.

Public Interest Research Group, or PIRG, was founded in 1970 by consumer advocate Ralph Nader. The group is a nonpartisan, nonideological and nonprofit student organization. Its mission is to help voice students’ interests and concerns about problems in society. This is done through a professional staff that provides research, outreach, community service and advocacy.

Nick Rugen, campus organizer for Iowa PIRG, said the underlying principle behind all PIRGs is that students are citizens; therefore, education at Iowa State should include experience in being able to recognize and solve society’s problems.

“The goal of PIRGs, then, is to give students information and skills needed to function effectively in a democratic society — a goal which is often overlooked by colleges and universities,” Rugen said.

There are more than two dozen PIRGs operating statewide, with almost 100 college and university chapters across the nation. PIRGs have published many reports, and helped pass legislation, including the bottle bill, which helped to effectively promote recycling, and legislation to protect Ledges State Park.

Iowa State had a PIRG chapter on campus from 1972 to 1982. Rugen said the chapter was disbanded in 1982 because the Iowa Board of Regents eliminated a Government of the Student Body-passed student referendum. The referendum created a waiveable fee to fund the group, which allowed students to choose whether they wanted to pay to fund the group, he said.

Without the fee, funding became unstable and the board of directors for Iowa PIRG decided to disband the Iowa State chapter.

Rugen said his work on campus this fall for Iowa PIRG, as part of a grant he received to help with project Youth Vote, has shown him students are motivated to re-establish ISU PIRG.

“Students have said ‘Why don’t we have a PIRG chapter, what happened to PIRG and how can we get funding back?'” he said.

Chelsea Lepley, co-chairwoman of Iowa Student PIRG and former GSB senator, said PIRG is needed at Iowa State because it preserves civic activism, which seems to be lacking at Iowa State.

“Traditional college students have a lot of enthusiasm, and there’s a lot of spirit on campus, but students just don’t have the time and organization to do research, outreach, community service and advocacy that’s needed to bring about social changes,” Lepley said. “What ISU PIRG would do is combine that spirit of a college student, and that enthusiasm with the many benefits a professional staff brings, to more effectively advocate student interest.”

Lepley, Rugen, students and GSB officials are planning to petition GSB to change its bylaws so PIRG would be included under GSB-funded offices, which are allowed to have professional staffs.

Rugen said being able to fund a professional staff is essential for students because lawyers, scientists, organizers, researchers and writers would be able to provide continuity for the organization.

“It doesn’t stop functioning during school vacations — just as problems don’t vanish during school vacations — and it doesn’t shift its goals and strategies each semester or each year with the turnover in student population,” Rugen said. “The staff would also help to implement student policies in an experienced, professional way, and in turn teaches students research advocacy and other skills outside of the classroom.”

Drew Miller, GSB off-campus senator, said PIRG would be able to help with the problem of student organizations losing knowledgeable members each year through graduation.

“Every four years, student groups recycle their members and in a lot of cases, important information can be lost with the loss of membership,” Miller said. “With PIRG’s professional staff that stays on campus, it wouldn’t be subject to that recycling like other groups, and would provide a continual source of information and support for groups as they go through the process of reinventing themselves.”

If ISU PIRG is re-established, it would be the first Iowa university chapter in the state.