Being genuine.

This is what Cody West, current vice president of the student body, is hoping to do as he enters his bid for student body president.

With running mate Cody Smith, current Student Government public relations chair and UROC senator, the two hope to run on a campaign of action-oriented goals.

“As Student Government, it’s our job to tell students that we’ll be there for them, but we can’t just make empty promises,” West said. “I refuse to not be genuine throughout this process.”

West-Smith are running on a platform that they hope builds community, restore tradition, reinvent residency and maintain purposeful outreach, according to their website.

“The main thing we have under the build community point is having access for every Iowa State student to a shared Google calendar. Doing that we would have different categories that students can separate the events by,” Smith said. 

The shared Google calendar that Smith and West envision would have athletic events, educational speakers, along with student organization events, all accessible through a CyMail account. Smith and West said that while there is an events page where students can find this information already, it is not always the most up-to-date and most students are not aware of the resource.

“I didn’t know about it until we came up with this idea,” Smith said. “And it’s really just a long process and a tedious process to get your events on there… We’re thinking this would be a better way for students to know what’s going on.”

West and Smith are also hoping to introduce and build upon a new Iowa State spring celebration, comparable to VEISHEA, but without some of the negative aspects that lead to the reason it was originally cancelled. 

“Everyone that I’ve talked to, especially those not involved in the Greek community, really miss that sense of community in the spring semester,” West said. 

West and Smith also hope to build upon West’s and Cole Staudt’s administration by trying to keep the proposed Cyclone 101 module-course an active conversation between the students and the administrators.

The course would be required of all students, if implemented, and would cover “sexual assault, bystander intervention, financial literacy, information literacy, campus resources and discussions regarding diversity and inclusion.

West and Smith also hope to advocate for more diversity courses that they say will “expose students to new perspectives and world views.”

On reinventing residency, West and Smith hope to tackle and better improve upon lease signings and lease gaps – specifically during the summer.

“We’re hoping to get a solution, whether it’s opening a floor in Friley for the students that have that problem with the lease gap, or anything like that,” Smith said. 

Smith said that they hope to work with both the university to provide an option for students or pressure landlords to shorten those gaps and not make it as much of an impact on students.

West and Smith are also striving toward transparency, making it a goal that should they get elected, the two would work toward breaking down the university funding model so that students can better understand where their tuition and fees are being spent.

West is currently a senior in biology in hopes of eventually going to medical school. Smith is majoring in agricultural communications and political science.

To see more on their platform, visit cody4isu.com.