For once, maybe the Iowa State administration is listening to students’ concerns.

With possibility of students heading to the polls on April 27 to vote on a 2 percent hotel-motel tax that would pay for the expansion of Hilton Coliseum, university administrators must have finally figured they were going to have to sell students a better deal.

Attracting more concerts because of increased seating sounds great, but what about the other 100 or so days when the basketball teams play?

Students want to make sure they have seats to cheer in when their favorite basketball teams play.

Proposing to move high-dollar donors to others seats in order to create at least 186 lower-level seats for students is a start, but it shouldn’t end there.

University administrators, especially those in the Athletic Department, need to remember one of the most important things that makes Hilton special when our basketball teams play there — “Hilton Magic.”

There is no Hilton Magic without students covered in cardinal and gold paint and yelling from some of the best seats in the house.

Almost any basketball player, both past and future, will tell you that they love Hilton because of its magic — the magic students create.

A group of students can’t create that magic while sitting in the nose-bleed section.

Students like yelling for their favorite players, and players like hearing people yell their names.

That encouragement is what sometimes wins games.

So, should we feel sad for the high-dollar donors that will be faced with the inconvenience of having to sit a few rows farther away?

Nah.

It’s not at all likely that we would have seen a donor on TV with a big red and yellow “ISU” painted across his bare chest chanting loudly, “Go ISU.”

However, a solution is possible.

With this expansion, the university could make both donors and students happy.

Most high-dollar donors like nothing more than to feel that they’re privileged and are getting their money’s worth.

So, why not wipe out all the donor seats and build a clubhouse overlooking the court?

Up there, they could be served sparkling grapefruit juice and Bon-Bons, and they would feel special.

That way, the students could show their true school spirit by cheering for players they could actually see without binoculars.