Is it right to say that the people of Iowa State have a low level of awareness about the issues of campus, or is it that they are aware but don’t really care or are sick of the way things are? Consistently, students let people represent them in GSB who don’t have their full mandate. Do those elected feel they can do whatever they like? An ironic fact: One year ago, the senator from the College of Agriculture, Adam Obreicht, along with Chad Dummermuth, authorized a bill to remove the international, minority and disability (code name, specialty) seats from GSB. On Wed., (Feb. 19) the Ag. Council passed a resolution in support of these specialty seats. A year ago, was it the people in the College of Agriculture that wanted these seats removed, or was it those senators that wanted them removed? Why do the people of Iowa State allow for this to happen?

Monday, the International Student Council endorsed two write-in candidates, Suresh Chekuri and Julio Speroni, for the international senator position in the GSB by unanimous vote. The message? International students are not in favor of Casey Powers running for this position just to justify the removal of this seat. All this may be very well, but are they going to come out and actually vote against Casey Powers when the elections are here? The people of Iowa State must, at this time, take a stand. They must elect those people to GSB who actually want what the people of their constituencies want. All they have to do is vote.

Then, there is a certain issue about removing cultural food as a budgetable item, during allocations of money to organizations. Very funny! A cultural event without cultural food would be a hard thing to have. People who come to Foodfest, Foodfair, Culturalfest, Indian, Turkish, Korean, Malaysian, Chinese, etc., cultural events know they cannot occur without that aroma and the sizzling of food from some other place on Earth. And Iowa State would be better off without them?

So why won’t you vote? Why shouldn’t I go out and vote for the person who cares for what I care for? President candidate Brad Lozan has said he would veto any such moves to cut cultural food as budgetable item. So I will vote for him. Can you also find a reason to vote? You only have to do a little research to find out what the candidates are actually saying. Perhaps you may contribute to the shaping of Iowa State’s future.

M. Khurram Aleem

Senior

Chemical Engineering

President, International Student Council