How many push-ups will the cheerleaders do this season? A new and edgy source of information about Iowa State, www.campusauthority.com, asks for your vote.

Former ISU student Travis Schoening came up with the idea for the Web site at work one day while thinking about www.cyclonereport.com, an Iowa State athletics Web site.

“I thought, what if we did something like that, but encompass the whole college experience,” says Schoening, who is currently a Web site designer.

He teamed up with Brent Yezek and Soo Wai-Kin, both graduate students in landscape architecture, and Geoff Wood, a former ISU student with a knowledge of business. With their help, his idea began to grow.

They decided to focus on a campus they were all familiar with before branching out.

“Since we had all gone to Iowa State, we thought we’d try our idea there first, and if it works out, we’ll go to other college campuses,” Schoening says.

“It got stronger and stronger as all our input pulled together,” Yezek says.

Shoening says they want to showcase what Iowa State is all about while giving the site a Maxim magazine feel. He fears women might get the wrong first impression of the site.

“I think at first people will think it’s geared toward guys, but we want it to be for everybody,” he says.

Yezek says Campus Authority offers more than a printed publication is able to.

“We’ve taken anything you see in a printed publication and brought it online with more interactive features, like personals and a message board,” Yezek says.

Schoening says they want to ask edgier questions and run stories students wouldn’t be able to read in more traditional campus publications.

Wai-Kin, who helped streamline the site and make it more user-friendly, says they are offering an alternative outlet of information for ISU students.

He calls it a “one-stop shop” for the Ames community.

Schoening says their goal is to feature a variety of ISU students — both well-known and unknown. The site includes numerous photographs, including some of the over 600 photographs of students they photographed tailgating before the ISU-UNI game.

“I see the photos as being the most popular part of the site,” Yezek says. “People like seeing themselves in pictures.”

Yezek and Schoening say Campus Authority also includes personals, an advice column, a satire section and music information. Another feature of the site profiles student-athletes and other persons of interest on campus.

Yezek believes students will benefit in different ways by visiting the site.

“It just depends on who the user is and what they want to get out of the site, whether it’s personals, message boards or music information,” he says.

Schoening says many of the over 600 members of the Web site have already begun using the dating personals. He thinks this aspect of the site will become quite popular with students.

The advice section also offers a way for students to interact and help each other.

“We want people who have been in these situations to chime in and give their take on it,” Schoening says. “It’s all anonymous.”