As vice chair of the Government of the Student Body Senate, my duties include protecting and promoting the goals of GSB at all times. So when I read in Monday’s Daily about how Adam Gold was not going to support the two senators who may be barred from the Senate, I felt it was my duty to stand behind these students and explain GSB’s connection to this whole controversy.

First, Adam Gold is not the head of GSB. He is elected to run the executive branch of our student government. The Senate is a different branch. Gold has no say in who is a senator and who is not. So, Gold’s opinion on whether or not someone remains a senator means nothing.

Let’s forget Gold for a moment. In the GSB Constitution preamble, the student body of Iowa State reserves the right to “choose its officers and representatives under its own standards. …” The ISU administration has no say in who is a GSB senator either. Students elect the senators, and only by a two-thirds vote of the Senate can a senator be removed — and then only with due process.

The only grounds for removal would be failure to meet the qualifications of the position and malfeasance of duties. Milton McGriff and Alan Nosworthy have met all qualifications of the position as outlined in the Constitution. Milton and Alan have also been exceptional senators; they are prime examples of good and fair representatives. It would be a loss to the whole student body if they were no longer senators.

I urge the Senate to stand behind its members and do what the GSB president is unwilling to do: place the needs of students above the wishes of the ISU administration. The GSB Constitution is the word of the students, they have instructed their representatives to protect their rights.

Though, officially, the president is not involved, the constitution says that Adam Gold is the official representative of the student body. It is his duty to represent and support the students of Iowa State. He has again failed in his responsibilities. Support from the GSB president would have gone long way for the needs of Milton and Alan. So, my suggestion to Gold: stand up for your fellow students once in a while and read your constitution, there is a lot you need to learn.

To the ISU administration: the decision whether senators or any other elected official — even President Gold — remains a member of GSB is entirely up to the students. If we are truly a student GOVERNMENT then we must have the right to choose our representatives by our own standards.

Jamey Hansen

Senior

Elementary education

Vice chairman of the Senate,

College of Education senator