When Government of the Student Body President T.J. Schneider and Vice President Joe Darr took office last spring, they did so with certain campaign promises and goals in tow. They are now in the midst of their final days as GSB executives.

Tony Luken, speaker of the GSB senate, said he believes Schneider and Darr fulfilled their campaign promises for the most part, but ran into problems throughout the year, causing them to change some of their goals and approaches toward completing them.

“For example, with the Student Union during the summer,” Luken said. “T.J. made the promise to students he would maintain their influence in the [Memorial Union], and I think the financial situation with the union made it hard for him to come through with that promise. He adapted his goal to the situation and I think he was able to negotiate the best deal out of it. He was able to make an agreement where students still have operational control.”

The Memorial Union is now officially under university control. Schneider said he believes students will receive better services from the union now, including more money for renovations. Students will continue to have an influence through student positions on the Memorial Union Board of Directors.

Kate Rydberg, freshman in psychology, said she thinks Schneider and Darr have been working to serve students.

“I do think T.J. and Joe have done a really great job. I think they’ve built a good year for next year by bringing a lot of great new people in [to GSB],” she said.

During their campaign last year, Schneider and Darr promised students they would extend the hours of Moonlight Express, which they did. The service now runs until 2:30 a.m. Darr said this was an important action taken by the administration because it provides a free alternative to drunken driving.

They also promised institution of a truly “dead” Dead Week, which they followed through with by signing a policy with the university outlining when exams may be administered during the week and suggesting regulations for deadlines.

Darr said he thinks this is the most important action the administration took because it met many students’ top concerns. The two also created the Student Evaluation of Teaching Task Force Report and worked to improve teacher evaluations.

Schneider said one of his biggest accomplishments was working with former GSB president Andy Tofilon to fill the GSB Director of Diversity position for the first time. Myron Batsa, former director of diversity, created the diversity forums at Iowa State.

“It was set up to spark conversation, and I think for the most part it was successful. I do think, though, that it is too early to gauge its impact on the community,” Schneider said.

Ben Taylor, president of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Alliance, said Schneider and Darr need to follow through with their diversity promises.

“They had good intent and knew the diversity issue needed to be discussed on campus, but I didn’t see a whole lot of action,” he said. “I would have liked to have seen more focus on certain groups, such as the LGBT community.”

Schneider and Darr took additional actions to help students, including helping with the creation of a nonvoting student representative on the Ames City Council, the Fall Events program and the Special Accommodations fund.

Not all of the actions taken by the administration have been successful. Darr said he was most disappointed in the turnout of the Fall Event comedy show and the GSB Senate’s decision to get rid of the Fall Events fund.