Editor’s Note: This the third in a three-part series profiling the candidates for the Government of the Student Body executive offices.

Matt Denner and Jonathan Mullin hope to use skills learned through their work as community organizers to speak with students, rather than simply representing students, if elected as Government of the Student Body president and vice president.

Denner, the presidential candidate, said although he and Mullin have pushed their own political agendas in the past, they have learned skills they plan to use to serve the student body as a whole.

Denner said it is obvious that something within GSB needs to be fixed, and it will take someone from outside the administration to fix the problem. “GSB currently speaks for students rather than with them,” he said.

Issues Denner and Mullin are addressing in their platform were chosen through conversations with both students and administrators at Iowa State, said Mullin, the vice-presidential candidate.

The executive candidates said they appreciate the efforts of the current administration to allow a student voice to be heard in the Ames City Council, but they believe the student seat needs to have a vote to be effective.

Denner said he and Mullin will effectively negotiate to get the student liaison voting privileges if elected.

Students can run for a seat on the council, but Mullin said the criteria are discriminatory because the term length is four years, longer than most students are willing to stay in Ames.

After speaking with state legislators and people who successfully lobbied to stop a tuition increase in the 1980s, Mullin said he believes there is a good chance he and Denner can stop tuition from increasing.

Using their community planning skills, the candidates would have a student speak with every legislator and staff member in the Statehouse, he said.

Mullin said diversity can be addressed by changing the function of the Memorial Union and integrating a multicultural center within the building. The biggest mistake is to exclude students from diversity by creating a separate building, they said.

The union can provide information about different cultures through a culture-related art display each month, culturally significant films and by devoting a room to diversity issues, Mullin said.

Denner said he would like to work with the university to create a resource for students who reside off campus, which would evaluate local landlords and document cases of improper landlord behavior. By increasing landlord responsibility, the program would decrease rent and make Ames a more affordable place to live, he said.

“If we get students to express their opinions on issues, both university and local, our term would be a success,” Denner said.