A new university procedure to solicit opinions from members of the public may have been one of the many factors used in Tuesday’s decision to move the statue of Cyclone football legend Jack Trice.

Located on the Iowa State homepage, an electronic questionnaire can be answered by students, faculty, staff, alumni and all others interested in ISU.

The online survey features campus issues that are pending university decision.

Diana Pounds, manager of internal communications, said there have been two electronic surveys so far.

The first survey asked whether or not the university should fund a new ice arena. The second, a two-part survey, asked whether the name Cyclone Stadium/Jack Trice Field should be renamed to Jack Trice Stadium and whether the university should move the statue of Trice to the football stadium.

“The second survey had more than 160 responses,” Pounds said.

Of the responses, 67 percent said they were in favor of moving the statue of Trice from its current location between Carver and Beardshear halls to a more visible location by the stadium.

John Anderson, interim director of university relations, said the electronic survey did play a part in university officials’ decision to move the statue.

“It’s certainly one of the pieces of information that was used in the decision in accepting GSB’s recommendation,” Anderson said. “We have to be careful because it is not representative of the whole university. While we would never put total stock in a mechanism like that, it does have its effect on the decision making process.”

Pounds said the university does plan to use the online mechanism to solicit opinions on other campus issues.

However, she said, there are no particular issues now planned for another survey.

“We would like to do more online surveys just as a way of getting more comments from students, faculty and staff, and alums and whoever else wants to comment,” she said.

Anderson said all comments received from the online survey are passed on to those who will make decisions regarding the issue.

“It can be very valuable as a quick method of gathering information and opinion,” he said.