“Students elected me to represent them, and I’m going to do it,” said Tony Luken, Towers Residence Association senator and speaker of senate for the Government of the Student Body.

Luken became involved with GSB his freshman year as an associate justice and has stayed active ever since. He ran unopposed for his current seat and was then nominated and approved by the senate to be the speaker.

“I remember being a student who didn’t know what GSB was or what it did,” Luken said.

By observing the two TRA senators who were seated when he was a freshman, Luken said he saw GSB doing good things for students. He also saw how a senate can be both proactive and reactive, he said.

During his term as senator and speaker, Luken has worked with the senate to see the success of many projects. The senate has increased the hours for Moonlight Express by half an hour, helped to fund a new colposcope and adapters for the Thielen Student Health Center and Mary Greeley Medical Center, provided help with funding for seven new laser printers in Parks Library and is currently working to improve campus lighting.

Last April, the senate renewed its commitment to the BRAD 21 program, a national program instituted at Iowa State in 2001. The program supplies information about the dangers and prevention of alcohol poisoning to a student on his or her 21st birthday.

“You can’t judge a senate by how many pieces of legislation are passed,” Luken said, “but rather by the quality of the actions that are taken.”

The most rewarding project Luken said he has worked on while being involved with GSB was when he and former president Andy Tofilon organized a donation drive which raised $27,000 for the victims of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“What you see is what you get,” Luken said. “I guarantee I will always have an ear and an honest answer.”

Vice Speaker and Frederiksen Court Senator David Leege said the GSB senate and speaker have the opportunity to do a lot of things and branch in a lot of different directions, which makes it hard to think of new ideas year after year.

Luken said students have a lot of great ideas. The idea for GSB to fund laser printers in the library actually came from a house meeting Luken was attending.

As speaker, Luken is the head senator, Leege said. The speaker is in charge of setting the agenda, presenting the regular allocations bill, serving as the head of the Rules Committee and serving as a leader and role model for new senators.

In the absence of the vice president, the speaker must also be the head of the senate.

“[Luken] feels very passionately and works hard to get support for initiatives [he feels are important to his constituents],” Leege said.