Noah Kammeyer, a freshman in political science, is the only candidate running for four Inter-Residence Hall Association (IRHA) seats in the Iowa State Student Government Senate.
While IRHA currently has three seats in the Senate, due to apportionment, they will have one additional seat in the upcoming term. In 2023, 200 IRHA students elected two candidates by way of write-in votes in addition to the only balloted candidate.
Student Government is a student organization that exists to serve and represent all students, according to the student organization database. They annually distribute $2.6 million in student fee revenue to organizations on campus and in Story County.
The Student Government elections will take place March 5–6, and ballots will be emailed to students’ Iowa State email addresses.
The following interview with Kammeyer was conducted by email.
What are your qualifications for being a Senator?
“I’m currently the President and IRHA Representative for Birch-Welch-Roberts (BWR) Hall. Despite BWR having one of the lowest Hall Council Budgets, as President, I’ve worked around that and still host one event every month, including three so far this month. However, being an IRHA Representative has given me a different opportunity to bring forward the demands of individuals to a more extensive parliamentary body. Sound familiar? Student Government is a larger organization where I can demonstrate my representative talents. Furthermore, as I previously mentioned, I’m the Vice President of the First Year Council (FYC), giving me a direct link to First-Year students who make up so much of the On-Campus student body.”
What are the most significant issues facing your constituents, and how will you address them?
“Student Government holds the keys to almost three million dollars in funding. Yet, if I were to poll the entire student body, I doubt more than 10% of students would be able to tell you what StuGov does, and that number is probably even lower for on-campus students. StuGov needs to hold more outreach events and interact more with the student body. Students need to understand and trust StuGov so that they can advocate for policies, partake in events, and vote in elections. Another significant issue for on-campus students is dealing with the amount of waste that piles up every semester. ISU Dining, in particular, has to deal with throwing away tons of food daily. However, a report by the NCHA found that nearly 31% of the students at Iowa State are food insecure. Meanwhile, we’re throwing away all of this food? I think it’s time we take action by partnering with SHOP and other organizations tackling food insecurity and pairing them with ISU Dining to reduce food waste and hunger. Finally, we need to encourage and support student leadership to form from First-Year students who make up a majority of people living on campus. Leadership is one of the most acute attributes to learn in college, as it’s imperative in every career field. In Student Government, I plan to address this by helping residence halls promote executive spots in their hall and house councils and reestablishing a solid partnership between StuGov and FYC. As the Vice President of FYC, I may be biased, but I will confidently say that it’s the best way to teach leadership qualities to First-Year students at Iowa State.”
Why should students vote for you?
“Despite being a First-Year, I hope you can see that I have the resume for being a Senator. However, I’m still a typical on-campus student, just with more responsibilities. I still entered Iowa State, not knowing where it would take me and what I would do early on. Today, I begin to have a good idea of my future in organizations at Iowa State, but a lot of that came from my own decisiveness. I don’t want that to be the case for everyone; I want everyone’s voice to be shared. I may not have the most experience on Campus, but I know how to organize and represent in Student Government. I feel these essential characteristics of being a Senator have been lost for on-campus students and I plan to change that.”
Why do you want to join Student Government?
“I believe that Student Government is the logical next step in my adventure at Iowa State. I have done a lot in student organizations already, and I’m only 18. There’s a lot more work to be done on a larger scale. Student Government relies on people who hear the voices of others. I’ve done just that in the positions I’ve held this year. I think it’s imperative to know I don’t give up on my goals. I promise this won’t change in Student Government.”
