Before searching Ames in the “Find My Representatives” search engine, I really had no clue what our local representation did for us as students or for our university as a whole, so I called up an expert. Professor David Peterson, housed in 541 Ross Hall, specializes in all things state leadership and clued me in on the inner workings of the Ames representation.

“They are the folks elected into the state legislature. In Iowa in particular we’ve got the House and the Senate,” Peterson said. “Our basic areas are represented by two representatives and one senator.”

Local representatives work to make the lives of the people of Ames easier by taking their issues to the state level. They have meetings with constituents, listening to what they have to say and the issues they face. They help to find and build practical solutions that will support the other Iowan districts as well as attend public functions and make appearances at local events.

So what does that have to do with us?

“For the most part they focus on funding of the university and trying to advocate for higher budgets for the university,” Peterson said. Negotiations regarding the funding between the different regents universities has been a hot-button topic for quite some time now, directly affecting Iowa State. “[They] benefit Iowa State more than others and I think [the representatives have] advocated for that.”

Additionally, many bills are passed through that haven’t been thought through all the way and have potential harm to the university. Peterson explained a partisan balance among faculty bill that was proposed before local representation stepped in.

“It was our Legislature who had an effective amount of pushback over the logistics of the bill,” Peterson said.