When discussion started heating up in the Veishea pledge debate, the Government of the Student Body spent numerous hours attending meetings, discussing the issues and making sure all student voices at Iowa State had the opportunity to be heard.

It was obvious they cared about students’ opinions and feelings about the pledge to go dry for Veishea. When the time came for GSB to vote on the resolution to make campus alcohol-free, the bill was tabled several times until all student opinions could be heard. It would seem the senators truly sought out their constituents and voted accordingly.

Let’s take a look at Wednesday night’s GSB meeting when another resolution was up for approval. This time the resolution called on the university to take a look at several issues concerning diversity on campus.

The resolution was voted down in 10 minutes. That’s right, 10 minutes.

Despite concerns by certain members of the student body who supported ideas in the resolution, GSB quelled those voices, claiming they were “voting for their constituents.”

Keep in mind the resolution did not even claim support for the views about diversity that the resolution addressed; it simply asked the sides in this continuing debate to come to a resolution.

When a student government spends weeks deciding whether ISU students can abstain from alcohol for one weekend and then spend just 10 minutes deciding whether students’ concerns over a diverse campus are worthy of its support, it becomes extremely clear where their priorities lie.

Wednesday’s resolution asked senators to urge the university to look into the eight issues of diversity initially brought forth by Allan Nosworthy’s hunger strike.

These issues included increased support for Minority Student Affairs, the renovation of Morrill Hall into a multicultural center and the renaming of Carrie Chapman Catt Hall.

It was understood before the vote that not all senators agreed 100 percent with the specifics of the issues.

Diversity, regardless of how we may stand on specific issues, affects every college, every student organization, every faculty member and every student on this campus.

It is a shame to see our representatives decide it isn’t important for this university community to take a closer look at making our campus more diverse.

The 12-16-5 vote Wednesday night made it clear that ignorance and apathy do not limit themselves only to the general student population.

If anything, the defeated resolution is a sign our student government is scared to face concerns about diversity at ISU.

Bryan Burkhardt, engineering senator, perhaps stated it best when he said, “I don’t agree with everything in it, but the issues need to be addressed by the university as a whole.”

We don’t expect the senators to agree on all of the issues expressed in the resolution. However, we do expect our senators to recognize that these issues need to be discussed by everyone on campus.

Perhaps one reason senators voted against the resolution is that they were first presented by The September 29th Movement.

For argument’s sake, what if these same issues were addressed by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes or Students Against Drunk Driving?

Would it make the issues any less or any more important?

Our senators should put more emphasis on the issues at hand and less emphasis on the people who raised them in the first place.

We know there is a fine line in politics between voting for your constituents and voting for what is right, and we know every senator has to make that choice. But every once in a while, there comes a time when a choice is clear enough that any blind man can see it.