This Wednesday, Government of the Student Body senators will be voting on a resolution to form a GSB/Inter-Residence Hall Association Special Committee.

The point of this special committee will be to investigate the Department of Residence in order to see exactly how satisfied students are with various levels and services in the new age of the Master Plan.

This is an excellent idea.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a few checks and balances.

It is high time that students take an active role at Iowa State.

It’s our money getting tossed around hither and thither, after all.

Recent cutbacks in Student Security alone should raise more than a few eyebrows.

And this whole mess with the Brown Route leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

The Orwellian renaming of cutbacks to euphemisms that don’t even work well in the English language is not only frustrating but futile.

“Re-prioritize?”

Try to use that one in a sentence.

Senator Jonathan Weaver has been an outspoken critic of the Department of Residence.

According to Weaver, “Our purpose is to make sure that students are the top priority, and that current students’ needs are being addressed. We’re trying to reassure students that their money is being spent wisely.”

And there is nothing wrong with that.

If Weaver wants to rock the boat on our behalf, he should have our support.

Any senator who votes in favor of this special committee will have the needs of ISU students at heart, and for that he or she should be commended.

The only people who should be concerned about a committee on this issue are those with something to hide.

If students are the main impetus behind the Master Plan and student needs motivate ISU to act, then why are they stuck in the nosebleed seats at basketball games?

Why are so many people unhappy with plans to tear down their dorms?

Let’s see all of this research the Department of Residence did to accurately re-prioritize our money and make us happy.

Do we expect that this committee is going to find wide-scale corruption or money laundering?

Not really.

But what we do expect is that students will have a voice in how our land grant university will be run.

As Senator Weaver has intimated, we should not be relegated to the status of cogs in some giant corporate money-making scheme.

If our needs aren’t being met, we have a right to find out why and act accordingly.