Iowa State Daily Editorial Board: Troy McCullough, Tim Davis, Jennifer Holland, Kathleen Carlson and Jenny Hykes.

Government of the Student Body Sen. Matthew Goodman has what we think is a great idea. Give students more input into the tenure decision process.

We have all had great tenured professors at Iowa State — professors who inspired us and educated us.

But we have also all had professors who were… well, not so great.

Maybe some were even horrible, and turned us off to their subject of study forever with poor teaching, disorganization or other weaknesses.

We fill out the teacher evaluations after each semester, angrily filling in the black dots and scribbling down our comments, seeking to find some sense of justice for hours of our time and our credits wasted.

But to seemingly no avail.

The magic word, “tenured,” keeps our opinions from having much of a significant effect.

It leaves students feeling weak and ineffective in determining their path of education, unable to make a difference in one of the most important factors in our student life.

We agree with Goodman’s resolution, which was approved by the GSB.

Students are the ones directly affected by professors’ skill, or lack of skill, in their most important role: teaching. They should also have a direct influence on whether the professors are given a tenured position.