In the last Government of the Student Body meeting of the school year, the senate listened to presentations for and against the expansion of Hilton Coliseum before passing a bill to support it.

“We have a window of opportunity to ensure that Hilton Coliseum remains and is an economic engine for the community,” said Rich Harter, executive director of the Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau. “There are many conventions, concerts and other events currently going on at the Iowa State Center, but we need to make sure it continues.”

Mark North, director of the Iowa State Center, said students could lose out in many ways, such as ticket pricing, acts and variety if the project isn’t approved.

“If we do this, we will be able to compete much better with [Des Moines],” North said.

Many senators and student activists questioned the validity of the tax.

“I have looked at economic impact statements, and the hotels and motels only amount to 5 percent of the non-ticket-based revenue,” said Steve Erickson, chairman of Campus Republicans. “So basically, we are taking 20 local businesses and taxing the narrowest tax base, and that doesn’t make any sense.”

Other sticking points included what would happen to the tax after the expansion is completed.

“Simply put, this hotel/motel tax is a ‘phantom tax,’ and they are just using Hilton Coliseum as bait,” said Steve Skutnik, LAS. “This tax is an infinite deal that the Ames City Council is using solely to cop out of future bond referendums. If this was really about Hilton, this tax would end when Hilton is paid for.”

Overall, there was support from senators for the plan.

“The fact of the matter is that the resolution would benefit students and members of the Ames community,” said Jonathon Weaver, TRA. “The tax is geared toward people that do not live in the city and simply come here and take advantage of our parks and facilities for free.”

Many warnings came from supporters about what could happen if it is not passed.

“We have an opportunity to make the crown jewel of this entire community as an entertainment, cultural and athletic complex and do what we can to keep it competitive,” Harter said.

Harter said he wished the issue hadn’t become so inflated and controversial.

“The people that are against this are passionately opposed to it because they would like to see it spent on something else in the community. Sadly, because they probably couldn’t get funding,” he said.

The bill to support the expansion plans for Hilton Coliseum was passed with a vote of 17-10-1.

The other major item of business during the session concerned the seating of a second international senator. The senate took a lengthy recess for the rules committee to further discuss it.

The seating bill was ruled out of order because of complications ranging from election procedures to the GSB Constitution.

“We were looking at this bill earlier this week, and a lot of things started to come up,” said Alex Olson, off campus. “We discovered one problem, then we found another, and it spiraled down with all of the other problems, and we would be here all night for me to explain each problem.”

Olsen said the issue wasn’t whether the senator was qualified but the rules surrounding the issue.

“There are conflicts all over the place. Constitution bylaws, election code — really serious stuff that could impact not only this but many other things,” he said.

The International Student Council said it will file with the Supreme Court for a decision on the issue if the senator isn’t seated.

“Whatever way this body votes, it will go to the GSB Supreme Court, and it will be decided there,” said Christian Edmiston, graduate.

Other bills passed included the funding of New Student Days, a program that would be held for incoming freshmen from the Thursday before school starts until Sunday afternoon. Students who participate would receive a T-shirt and attend seminars and various forms of entertainment.

“We should not look at this as a funding issue but a way of showing our support to the incoming freshmen,” said Ricky Cordaro, UDA. “Each of these students will have a T-shirt that says ‘Funded by GSB’ on it, and the freshmen will look at it and say, ‘What is GSB? I want to get involved.'”

The senate also approved funding for a key card access control system for the student office spaces in the Memorial Union. The system would allow students to access the space after regular hours by using their ISU Cards.