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

One of the most important and vital positions in the Government of the Student Body, the finance director, remains vacant.

Why?

After deliberations and considering seven candidates to fill the position of finance director, GSB President Adam Gold selected David Schoof, a graduate student in community regional planning, as Steve Elliot’s successor.

However, Gold’s nomination, which must be approved by the GSB Senate, came under fire last Wednesday. The bill seating Schoof was withdrawn after lengthy discussion, and the position remains unfilled. Gold is now forced to appoint an interim director for the summer, an action neither he nor the Senate wished to take.

There are valid concerns as to the appropriateness of Schoof’s selection.

He had no experience serving with the finance committee, a qualification that five other applicants had.

Gold has said he chose Schoof because of his capabilities and “real-life” experience. Schoof was responsible for organizing Cy-Ride’s budget last fall.

Quite frankly, this qualification doesn’t make any sense. What exactly is “real-life” experience? Does this mean that the five applicants who served on the finance committee last year don’t have “real-life” experience?

How would one then qualify the experience gained from sitting on the finance committee? “Fake” experience? “Virtual-life”experience?

With no disrespect intended toward Mr. Schoof, it seems odd to select him over five students who all have experience with the committee with which the finance director is directly involved.

And one of the qualifications in determining who would be the best candidate to deal with such a large amount of student money must be his or her direct experience in dealing with student funds and the finance committee.

The job of the finance director is to work with the Senate at-large and the finance committee to oversee the process of how $1.2 million is used for the benefit of students. With five students having served on that committee, how much more “real” can you get?