Despite protests and letters, some campus leaders still say the students of Iowa State support McDonald’s moving into the Hub.

Adam Gold, Government of the Student Body president and one of the few student-elected officials on campus this summer, said he thinks building a McDonald’s in the Hub is a good idea and that the majority of students he has spoken with are in favor of it.

“The students I have talked to seem to be overwhelmingly in favor of this,” Gold said. “Maybe a few oppose it, but it’s really hard to tell because so many students are gone for the summer.”

Gold said university officials did seek out his opinion at the end of April while classes were in session regarding which vending contract should be signed. This included the possibility of adding a restaurant to the Hub.

Gold said the meeting with the special fees committee was very informal and they mainly discussed which vending contract would benefit the students the most.

“My involvement in the information process was about an hour,” Gold said.

Possible objections students might have about adding a restaurant were discussed at the meeting, but Gold said the positive aspects outweighed the negative ones.

“Personally, as the GSB President, I said there was definitely a possibility for this option [of putting in a restaurant at the Hub],” Gold said.

Gold said, he thinks bringing McDonald’s to the Hub is a good thing for one main reason — the amount of monetary compensation the students will receive.

He said with this vending contract (between the Memorial Union and the university) students will receive a percentage of all the vending profits.

Kathy Svec, marketing director at the Memorial Union, said a scholarship idea is still in the planning stages, but it was included in the proposal given to the university and was accepted.

She said the distribution of the proposed scholarship, which would be funded through profits of the entire vending business, not just McDonald’s, would be given to the financial aid offices for disbursement.

“This [scholarship idea] was one of a number of things the university felt contributed to the benefits of this project,” Svec said.

Despite these benefits, Gold said he has received calls from students who are against putting a franchise restaurant on the center of campus.

“As far as commercialization goes, I think students are expecting to see large golden arches above the building. That’s not going to happen. As far as appearances goes, it will still look like the Hub on the exterior,” he said.

Regarding students’ concerns on the issue, Gold said he thinks it would be a good idea for the university to delay the final decision regarding the Hub until students are back on campus this fall.

Gold said he does not believe the university is trying to pull one over on the students by announcing this decision in the summer.

“As far as timing goes, could they have waited? I don’t know. I do stand fast when I say I don’t think they are trying to put one by us,” Gold said.

Gold said he hopes that before people make a judgment they completely understand the benefits of the contract, especially the student scholarship.

“There are some negatives, but we can deal with them sufficiently. The benefits presented make it a much easier decision,” he said.

Gold encourages all students who have questions about the decision to attend a public forum to be held Tuesday, July 16, at noon in the Maintenance Shop of the Memorial Union.

James Huss, associate professor in hotel, restaurant and institution management, will be moderating the forum to answer questions students and faculty have about putting a McDonald’s on campus.

“Our goal is to answer questions from anybody that shows up and try to sort out some of the concerns people have about putting McDonald’s in the Hub,” Huss said.