The big day some university officials and Citizens for our Iowa State Center have been waiting for is coming.

The highly publicized and somewhat controversial election concerning the 2 percent hotel/motel tax increase that will help pay for the expansion of Hilton Coliseum will take place in less than 24 hours.

Though it seems both opposers and supporters of the hotel/motel tax have been outspoken, it is still questionable as to whether students will be flocking to the polls Tuesday.

It is undeniable that Iowa State students have a reputation of being apathetic, especially when it comes to elections.

However, university officials obviously must have thought students would care about this issue, or else they wouldn’t have worked so diligently to get the election date before the end of the semester.

The question still remains — “Is expanding Hilton Coliseum important to students?”

Citizens for our Iowa State Center and ISU Center officials have pushed that the expansion will be an asset to ISU and Ames by bringing in bigger and better acts.

However, this enticing factor is no guarantee.

What most students passionately care about is whether the expansion will produce more seating for them at basketball games.

Through efforts made by the Government of the Student Body, it looks as though students will get a whopping 186 extra seats at men’s basketball games and 300 extra seats at women’s basketball games.

These are extra seats that should already be claimed by the students.

But if students wanted more seating, they have no right to complain.

There was no movement started by students to get more student seating.

In dealing with the university administration, one should know that action is brought about when you do things in numbers, like holding protests in numbers and boycotting basketball season tickets in numbers.

The Hilton expansion plan will benefit not only ISU but also the Ames community.

So go out and vote for the hotel/motel tax increase. You probably won’t be the one who has to pay it.

And if you’re upset about student seating, get off your butt and start a movement. It’s not too late to get the high-dollar, big-baller donors moved up into a skybox or the nosebleed section.

You just have to get the university’s attention.