I have been on the Government of the Student Body senate on and off for three years. I have never felt we were as unprofessional as we are now. I have tried every way to serve students and voice their concerns. I thought this was the best way to address to students what I believe the “professionalism” is in GSB.

I proposed a “hat” resolution in GSB about three weeks ago. The “hat” resolution prohibits GSB senators from wearing a hat during senate meetings. There are a few reasons why the GSB senate shouldn’t be wearing hats during our meetings. We follow all the “formal” procedures, and we discuss “formal” topics of the university and the Iowa State student body. However, there are many senators that wear hats during our meetings. Is this really professional and appropriate?

GSB Senate meetings regularly have many VIP guests, such as Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy and Vice President of Student Affairs Thomas Hill. They attend our meeting with formal attire, but I have seen that a lot of times a few GSB senators wore hats during their presentation. Where is the respect to these guests? It is a matter of respect; we should not be wearing hats especially in front of those guests.

I have heard many senators say “we are students, we are not any more special than any other students, so we can wear what we want to express ourselves.” I don’t think that is true. I know we are normal students, but at same time we are leaders that set an example. This should include showing formal settings.

GSB senate meetings are normally held in the Memorial Union. The Memorial Union adopted a policy to encourage students to not to wear hats inside of the building. The Memorial Union was also built to honor Iowa State students who died for our country. Is it really appropriate to wear a hat inside of that kind of building? I have heard many concerns regarding this bill. I believe it’s very sad that I even had to propose this bill. We are adults and also student leaders; we should know what’s appropriate and what is not.

I do not think this is a waste of students’ time. There are many campus organizations adopting formal dress code policies in their organizations. I am just trying to make GSB a little more presentable and professional, just like other campus organizations. We never really had students look up to us because maybe we’ve never shown respect to anyone before. We won’t receive respect unless we provide respect to students, faculties and guests. Maybe this could be the beginning of a big change for GSB to earn some respect from fellow students.

Shu Tosaka

Senior

Hotel, restaurant, insititution management

GSB Senator, College of Family and Consumer Sciences