With the new Student Government president and vice president Julian Neely and Juan Bibiloni taking office, the ISD Editorial Board is looking forward to seeing what the new administration will do. Here are some things we want to see from the new administration.

We hope sexual misconduct training remains at the forefront of the Student Government agenda. Through the Green Dot program, which Neely and Bibiloni have supported, the university can continue to educate people about sexual misconduct and make more resources widely available to everyone. The Editorial Board believes it is just as important to have great resources for survivors as it is to educate people, in a proactive attempt to prevent misconduct. 

The Editorial Board hopes there will be a continued effort to protect pedestrians across campus. This includes keeping more pedestrians safe across crosswalks and implementing sustainable, campus-wide lighting. We hope they can find a way to improve lighting across campus without breaking the bank in the process.

We are in huge support of Neely and Bibiloni’s ideas to promote diversity and inclusion across campus. They have proposed The Walk for Diversity as “an opportunity for students, faculty and staff, and administrators to come together as one to promote the importance of diversity on our campus.” We hope they follow through with this walk to show the state and the country that Iowa State stands up for and values diversity. Similarly, the slate’s plan for the March for Education will raise the profile of issues with lagging state funding to our public universities.  

Finally, we hope to see more transparency from Student Government and a more informed student body. Neely and Bibiloni have spoken about how they want to send out a monthly newsletter to students informing them of what is currently going on in Student Government. As many students aren’t fully aware of what Student Government does or what they are currently doing, this is a great initiative we hope sees fruition.

We hope members of all Student Government branches will regularly speak with constituents and advocate for the issues they are most passionate about. It is the job of these elected officials to represent their constituents to the best of their ability. 

The ISD Editorial Board is excited to see all of the changes and improvements that will come in the next year, and we wish everyone in Student Government the best as they continue to improve our university.