As the semester wraps up, Student Government Speaker Cody Woodruff reflected on some Student Government’s most notable accomplishments this year.

Initiatives undertaken by the Senate this semester include the addressing Iowa State’s new trademark policy, hosting a residency fair and granting more than $60,000 for student clubs and organizations across campus.

Advocating for trademark reform

In terms of impact and scale, Woodruff cites Student Government’s response to the enforcement of Iowa State’s new trademark policy, implemented Aug. 1, 2018.  In a resolution addressing the university’s trademark policy on Oct. 10, the Senate illustrated the frustrations of the student body by asking the administration to halt enforcement of the policy and potentially alter it.

“The resolution itself I am incredibly proud of, the wording there, but also the work being done, the advocacy,” Woodruff said. “There is a lot of work still to be done on that issue, but we will see what spring semester offers.”

‘I am a Voter’ Campaign

The ‘I am a Voter’ campaign was created by the Civic Engagement Committee to educate students about the importance of elections, encourage students to register as voters and submit ballots for the Nov. 6 Midterm elections. Woodruff commends Sens. Caroline Warmuth and Jacob Schrader as well as Senior Director of Governmental Affairs Kathryn Walker for their efforts on the project.

“We had a big midterm election that garnered a lot of national and statewide focus too, but the voter turnout numbers were outstanding,” Woodruff said. “There was a definite increase from 2014, and I believe almost matched or exceeded 2016 in some areas, with students at least, which is really exciting for a midterm to get close to or exceed a presidential election.”

Finance Committee

Woodruff also commends the work of Student Government’s Finance Committee for what he believes to be an exceptional semester of getting student organizations the money that they need.

“There have been very few problems that Senate has had to address that finance didn’t catch, which in my time is unique,” Woodruff said. “We usually catch a lot more ‘Shoot we didn’t think about this’ or ‘No, we’ve got to correct this.’”

Student Government inclusivity

This year, Student Government has made strides to make Student Government a more inclusive and welcoming place for all Iowa State students, including bylaw changes to expand committees and Sen. Courtney Beringer’s bill to change pronouns used in bylaws.

“That shows to me a lot of excitement and opportunities that students want to get involved with us, and we are making room for that to happen,” Woodruff said. “I’ve always told people, ‘if you know someone who is interested in Student Government, we will find a place for them somewhere.’”

Resolution on MENA and Test Choice

MENA, the Middle Eastern and North African, resolution addresses the issue of MENA students not being recognized by U.S. standards as multicultural students resulting in their being labelled as ‘white.’ Student Government created a resolution asking the university to accept MENA as multicultural students, which would allow them to utilize the multicultural resources on campus.

The Test Choice resolution was introduced this year and is asking Iowa State to allow tests from other countries to be used as admission exams, rather than just the ACT or SAT. Sen. Gabriel Rios-Rivera is working to find test conversions to bring to faculty before a decision is reached.

Fall 2018 in review

“It’s exciting for me as speaker because we finally have the right people,” Woodruff said. “Not that we didn’t before, in the previous session I was in, we had good people, but there is truly not a weak link within the senators. All of them want to be involved, are engaged, have been active.”