Editor’s Note: This is the first profile of the Government of the Student Body presidential and vice presidential candidates. A different slate will be featured each day until Friday. GSB elections are Feb. 16-18.

Duties of the Government of the Student Body president and vice president include showing support for the “average” student, according to write-in candidates Chris Wisher and Jennifer Johnson.

Wisher is a junior in finance with a minor in political science from Hudson, and Johnson is a senior in elementary education with a minor in educational computing from Baxter.

Wisher, a GSB senator for the Towers Residence Association, has served on the Liberal Arts and Sciences Council and as an Air Force Aerospace Studies representative. He also has worked on the computer allocations committee.

Wisher is a GSB finance committee member and is working on changes in the parking system, specifically at TRA.

Johnson is a senator for the College of Education and also is involved with the educational student advisory council. She has remained active in the College of Education through a number of clubs, including The Educational Computing Club (TECC).

“When I vote at senate meetings, I try to keep the students’ educational benefits in mind,” she said.

Both candidates said student finances are a major concern, particularly the proposed increases in tuition and room and board.

“We continue to hold the [Board of] Regents and administration responsible for how tuition is spent,” Wisher said. “We want to know exactly what the 7.5 percent is going to be spent for.”

Wisher and Johnson said a tuition increase would amount to more than $250 per student next year, a sum which the slate would like to spread over a three- or four-year period.

Wisher and Johnson said they plan to make food service optional in the dorms because some students would like to spend their food dollars elsewhere.

“For many students, [food service] doesn’t fit into their schedule or they have different food preferences,” Wisher said.

Transportation is another issue on their platform. Wisher and Johnson are pushing for an additional bus stop at the Iowa State Center commuter lot to better utilize available parking areas.

Improving Cy-Ride’s orange route, which takes students from the Iowa State Center commuter lot through campus, also is a concern for Wisher and Johnson, as well as improving service on other routes.

Wisher and Johnson said parking and bus routes present some obstacles for ISU students and the issue needs to be addressed soon.

“We will continue to push for an additional parking ramp on campus [and] a shuttle bus through the greek system to run people into campus,” Wisher said.

Both candidates also would like to implement higher standards for both teaching assistants’ and professors’ usage of the English language.

“It does students no good to go to a class if you can’t understand what is being taught,” Wisher said. “The instructors are very qualified, but if they can’t communicate it is no good.”

The team added they would like members of GSB and the administration to visit classrooms to decide what English standards should be set. Wisher and Johnson suggested creating remedial English programs for instructors who don’t meet the standards.

Wisher and Johnson said improving communication among students, the administration and GSB also is necessary at ISU.

“All of GSB feels this is important. Students need to be a lot more informed of what GSB is all about and what it stands for,” Wisher said.

They would also like to see information about GSB provided at freshmen and new student orientations.

“We do more than just deal with funds, but also with opinions,” Wisher said. “We want to do a lot more for the students than allocating money for conferences. We need to express that GSB is much more.”

Wisher and Johnson’s names will not be on the election ballot next Monday through Wednesday, but they said their status as write-in candidates is not a detriment.

“On Friday when ballots were due, our campaign counted 2,058 signatures. The next day, the election commission contacted them and said there were only 1,955 valid signatures after striking the bad ones, but only three were found illegible,” Wisher said.

Wisher said unclaimed petitions must have prevented them from being on the ballot.

Wisher and Johnson said they decided to run because they had “seen a lot of student issues not addressed. We’d be able to represent those issues and students more directly,” Wisher said. “We’re not people who will pander or use gimmicks to get elected.”