President of the Student Body Jacob Ludwig, senior in economics, presented the state of the student body address to the Senate at Wednesday’s meeting. 

 

Ludwig mainly spoke on the platform he and Jaden Ahlrichs, senior in global resource systems, ran on. Those topics are food insecurity, violence prevention, diversity, equity and inclusion, sustainability and the budget of Student Government and the university as a whole. 

 

Ludwig spoke on efforts regarding diversity, equity and inclusion, saying, “We want to expand the ways Student Government works with marginalized communities. Over this last year, we had increased contact with international students and International Student Council, and that’s been really valuable for Student Government in terms of how we can better support that community. I have been in on the monthly meetings that the previous executive team has had with Iowa State leadership. That’s something that I really think is important that we replicate with other marginalized communities at Iowa State.”

 

Ludwig also spoke on increasing CyRide’s electric bus fleet, increasing mental health efforts, helping qualified students obtain food stamps, promoting the Green Dot program and other points that were discussed during his campaign. 

 

Ludwig mentioned that these efforts are to be tackled by Student Government as a whole and is confident that with cooperation from everyone, the efforts will be successful. 

 

The first legislation of the night was for amending the Student Legal Services contract. 

 

Iowa State Student Government completely funds Student Legal Services, which employs two full-time attorneys and an office assistant. The contract between the two organizations was amended to reflect the increase in office space rent due to their relocation to the sixth floor of the Memorial Union. The amendments passed unanimously. 

 

The Senate approved amendments to the contract between Student Government and the Iowa State Daily. Amendments changed the contract to increase or decrease relative to the change in enrollment at Iowa State. The contract previously stated that funding would only be changed at 10 percent change in enrollment. The new amendment changes funding relative to enrollment at a maximum of 5 percent. 

 

Advait M., senior in mechanical engineering and former vice speaker of the Senate, attended the meeting to speak his thoughts on the contract, which he worked on during his time as a Senator. 

 

“What has been happening is for the last three or so years, enrollment has gone down and our total income has gone down,” Anand said. “Because that money has gone down, however, the Daily’s funding has stayed at the same level and has not reduced because of the way the contract is structured.”

 

The contract currently allocates $340,000 to the Daily each year, with changes depending on enrollment. 

 

“While I understand that $340,000 is a lot of money and we are all facing hardship, we [the Daily] are facing the same hardship. We are open to discussion on any portion of our contract. I just wanted to put that out there,” said Katherine Kealey, junior in journalism and mass communication and the incoming editor-in-chief of the Daily for the next academic year. 

 

Multiple Senators spoke in favor of the amendments. Madeline Becker, Liberal Arts and Sciences senator, spoke in favor of the Daily.

 

“If the Daily is saying that they can’t function with less than $340,000, then that’s what they’re saying. I have no reason to believe that that is not the truth, and I value the Daily. If that is what they need and we can provide that, then I don’t see why we wouldn’t provide that,” Becker said.

 

An amendment also consisted of setting a contract maximum of $380,000 and a minimum of $300,000. 

 

These changes were agreed upon between the executive branch of Student Government and the Iowa State Daily and were approved by the Senate by a vote of 23-2-3. 

 

Arlene Garrick, doctoral student in apparel, events and hospitality management, was confirmed as director of international student experience. 

 

Garrick is part of the Peak Performance Leadership program where she works with international students. 

 

“In the discussions we have had, one of the things international students have indicated is that the transition was exciting but also very challenging,” Garrick said. 

 

Mary Malausky, sophomore in psychology, was confirmed as director of diversity, equity and inclusion. Malausky is a member of the Iowa State Chapter of the NAACP and is part of the diversity, equity and inclusion committee for the Collegiate Panhellenic Council. 

 

Cody Neeper-Burris, junior in political science, was confirmed as election commissioner. Neeper-Burris is the former Election Commission public relations committee chair.

 

Neeper-Burris said she is open to conversations about election code change, a topic that is anticipated in the fall term. 

 

The Senate approved $3,000 be transferred from the Senate Discretionary account to fund $3 of the projected $8 per meal at Destination Iowa State. This subsidization is for those participating in Destination Iowa State who are without a dining plan.

 

The Senate funded travel costs and the registration fee for Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association National Championship for the Western Team. One rider qualified for their national competition in Pennsylvania. 

 

Student Engagement requested a line item transfer, and the Senate granted the request. This transfer moved money that wasn’t used from the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 ClubFests to online student organization systems and student office and cubicle space. 

 

The Senate also voted to increase the starting balance of the Green Initiatives account. 

 

Green Initiatives is an account designated for sustainability-related projects and initiatives. The account was previously funded at $15,000. With this act passed, the account is now funded at $30,000 per academic year. 

 

This change does not cost students any additional money as the money is transferred from a special projects account. 

 

The Senate confirmed Madison Doeden, junior in marketing, as an Inter-Residence Hall Association Senator. Doeden has been part of the association and president of Geoffroy hall during her two years at Iowa State and will be an RA in the fall. 

 

Kaylee Kleitsch, sophomore in agriculture and rural policy studies, and Tiffany Kabanuk, freshman in biology, were confirmed to the Supreme Court during Wednesday’s meeting.

 

Sundar Shivraj, junior in computer science, and Lena Vo, sophomore in linguistics, were confirmed to the student initiatives committee as senators. 

 

Jose Carlos Garcia, senior in computer engineering and former senator, was confirmed as an at-large for the student initiatives committee. 

 

Preston Kohlhaas, senior in agriculture systems technology, Chukwunenye ‘Obi’ Agba, sophomore in political science, Khushi Patel, freshman in pre-business, Nicholas Tansey, junior in political science, and Rachel Schnepf, sophomore in computer engineering, were confirmed to the newly established local affairs committee. 

 

Hannah Peterson, junior in public relations, Madeline Becker, sophomore in economics, Schnepf, Quentin Slater, sophomore in agriculture and life sciences education, and Jennifer Holliday, sophomore in agriculture and life sciences education, were unanimously confirmed by the senate to sit on the public relations committee. 

 

Patel and Tansey were also confirmed to the finance committee.