On Tuesday afternoon five students explained why they are the most fit for the position of a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) senator.

The LAS Student Government Senator Debate began in a classroom in Agronomy Hall, with an audience of roughly twenty people. The five students went into depth about the concerns, strengths and weaknesses of Iowa State University.

Out of 13 candidates, five arrived to the forum. 

Chase Kusel, a sophomore in public relations and political science began the meeting by introducing himself to the audience. Kusel currently has an internship with the governor set in place for this summer along with multiple leadership experiences on campus. 

Following Kusel, Ihssan Ait-Boucherbil introduced herself as a junior with two diverse majors. With political science being a social and chemistry being a physical science, Ait-Boucherbil has a broad understanding of two opposite fields. She has been an ambassador for the LAS college, and is currently a Community Advisor. 

Madyson Jones began by introducing her two majors: political science and English. Jones is currently a sophomore. She is also an ambassador and in that position she goes to Des Moines and works with employees at the U.S. Capitol.

After Jones, Maria Pimentel introduced herself with the audience. Pimentel is a sophomore in political science and public relations. She is also a LAS ambassador, like Ait-Boucherbil. Along with that, she works for the Iowa State Daily as a digital reporter.

As a sophomore in economics and political science, Lucy Dougherty introduced herself to the crowd. Dougherty is pre-law, the chair of the lecture’s committee here at Iowa State and has been a Teacher’s Assistant in the past. This summer, Dougherty is working at the Iowa Attorney general’s office. 

Specifically regarding the LAS college here at the university, the five potential candidates conved why they are the best candidate for one of the three positions of LAS senator.

Here is a brief of the topics the candidates discussed:

Communication

When asked what their plan is to hear each and every voice of the students on campus, the candidates stress that communication is key. Dougherty started the debate by saying that contacting student leaders is an important start.

“It’s really hard to connect with every single constituent,” Dougherty said. “But if you went through presidents of clubs, the LAS council, there’s a lot of bigger organizations to connect to more students through.”

She continued saying that the bigger organizations are an ‘untapped resource’ that can be used to contact presidents of smaller clubs and organizations.

When Kusel said his part, he explained that the best way to communicate and hear everyone’s voices may be to contact the presidents of clubs and get information.

“Even if it’s just a Facebook page, or email, there can be representatives of clubs and try to get everyone in there,” Kusel said. “Then when big stuff goes through, or small stuff, we can relay that information through and get feedback.”

The candidates went on to discuss methods to communicate with students.

Jones believes that dividing and conquering is the best method. With three senators, Jones said that attending several club and organization meetings is possible. Jones explained that if senators attend meetings, they will have a broader understanding of the happenings within the LAS college. Ait-Boucherbil agreed that attending club meetings will help the student government be more aware of the students in the LAS college and what they do or need. 

For Pimentel, publicizing the senators is an important factor.

“Get people to know the government so that people know exactly who to reach out to,” Pimentel said. She says that if she is senator, she will advertise who she is in order to allow students to be aware of who is in the student government.

“I would get that communication started and get them to know us,” Pimentel says.

Change

How would the senator candidates go about change?

When asked this question, Ait-Boucherbil kicked off the topic. She explained how this year the LAS college has made a change by having a full LAS Week with a lot of events. Ait-Boucherbil believes that more involvement can strengthen the college. 

Ait-Boucherbil also said that starting from the root of what would change is the answer to successful changes.

“I think it starts at the bottom before we can start thinking about really crazy ideas,” she said. “We really have to make sure we have our bases, and our foundation set for the college.”

After Ait-Boucherbil, Dougherty explained how she would go about change.

“A lot of times, the change that people talk about is impossible for whatever reason,” Dougherty said. “They aren’t looking at ideas that can actually be done within the student government.

Dougherty said that while change outside of the student government cannot be directly and immediately changed, there are steps to reach a potential change.

“Educating students about the things that you cannot change will help the students understand,” Dougherty said.

Following Dougherty, Jones explained that for her, asking students what they think needs changed instead of strictly listening to the student government can allow for unique ideas to be considered.

Pimentel and Jones both agree on the thought that open communication is necessary for change.

“I want to help people know that their voice can be heard,” Pimentel said. “I want everyone to know that every single one of their voices matters.”

When Kusel said his part, he agreed with Dougherty that change is a process.

“I’m also very realistic in the fact that I know there’s some things that cannot be changed,” Kusel said.

He then said that with his background Kusel has learned that while he may not always know what is best, he is here to hear what everyone needs and tailor change around the students.

What to Change 

All five candidates have a specific issue that they would like to change.

Dougherty’s first change would be about the policy that the administration has for finances.

“The administration’s policy on releasing tuition and when financial planning actually goes into place would be the first thing I’d try to change,” Dougherty said. She stressed that there are ways to change it, saying that financial planning goes into place less than a month before it goes to your U-Bill. 

Kusel brings back the topic of communication.

“We need to be letting the students know what the issues are,” Kusel said. “Why they are doing what they’re doing, and feedback from the students would be cool as well.”

Kusel said that he will provide his email and want students to contact him so he can inform them.

Pimentel agreed with Kusel and also stressed communication as a vital change.

Ait-Boucherbil followed Kusel’s topic with her own: diversity inclusion.

“One of the things that I really want to change, hit the ground running with, is more diversity inclusion within student government,” Ait-Boucherbil said. “As a person of color, I really see that there’s becoming more and more involvement in student government, but we really haven’t hit it yet.”

She said that she would work directly with that committee to see how she can get more LGBTQA+ involvement, multicultural involvement and involvement of people who are not as represented to have a bigger voice.

After Ait-Boucherbil, Jones pointed out that campus lighting is an issue that needs to be changed.

“Campus lighting is an issue right now,” Jones said. “There are a lot of places on campus that aren’t very well lit and that’s not good for your safety.” 

Mental/Physical Health

With disabilities being a prominent concern, candidates were asked how they would advocate for mentally or physically disabled students.

According to Kusel, elevators and accessibility into buildings are important issues that need to be addressed. Kusel continued to go into depth about the lack of easy access to buildings around campus.

Dougherty said that funding is the main reason why campus is not tailored to assist students with disabilities as much as it should be.

“It’s a funding issue. It all comes down to funding. If we had the money, they would do it,” Dougherty said. “I think that because of my background in economics, I could use that for funding for these issues that are more important and affect several students.”

Ait-Boucherbil agreed with Dougherty when she explained how she will help students with mental/physical disabilities. 

“It really just all goes back to funding,” Ait-Boucherbil said. 

Although, Aut-Boucherbil also mentioned that mental health is common on campus, but not enough psychologists are employed to help.

“One thing that I really noticed is there aren’t that many psychologists to talk to,” she said. “Mental health on campus is near and dear to my heart. I think one really important thing is letting you know that there are people here to support you and that it’s okay.”

If Jones was a senator, helping students with mental health issues realize that there are places on campus to go is something that she wants to do.

“I think a lot of students on campus don’t realize that they have counseling services on campus,” Jones said.

Pimentel said that addressing the issues with disabilities is an important start that should not be disregarded.

“Getting people to think about it is the first step,” Pimentel said.