The discussion and chatter of another record-breaking enrollment semester has fallen upon the university yet again. With 32,794 students on campus this spring, the headcount is once again the highest of any spring semester at Iowa State. And when the university welcomed 34,732 Cyclones in the fall semester, the question of “how much is too much” began to float about.

It is not unusual for the spring enrollment numbers to drop as the snow begins to fall each year. Numbers have shown to decrease by about 1,500 bodies each spring semester. However, that won’t clear up much room on sidewalks if that’s what you’re hoping.

In the fall semester, President Leath and his administration was tasked with finding solutions to the increased enrollment. One of the biggest successes coming from the provost’s offices was the collaboration between departments to answer the testing center waiting line problem.

Students would wait for hours to take a 15 or 30-minute test. Well, with the help of the mathematics and engineering departments, GSB and the Provost Jonathan Wickert, the parties found a way to increase the testing centers and decrease waiting times. On Dec. 9, the Iowa State Daily let students know their voices had been heard when some spoke up at an open forum meeting in the fall semester.

The increased enrollment in the fall semester seemed to some students as a slight step backward in the quality of life at Iowa State. Crowded sidewalks, packed lecture halls, unfathomable waiting lines and congested CyRide traffic were among some of the most important topics on students’ minds.

We must continue moving forward.

Although the number of students on campus decreased from 2014 to 2015, it’s still a record number of bodies at Iowa State for a spring semester. As the sun begins to come out, CyRide will become slightly less congested and the sidewalks will once again become clogged. The important thing to remember, however, is students can change that.

The testing centers topic is the perfect example. The university and administration should hold at least one more open forum for students to express their spring concerns. Hear us out and continue to give us an opportunity to let you know what we’re dealing with out in the trenches of Central Campus, Kildee Hall, Howe Hall, Carver Hall and the Memorial Union.

There were a lot of great accomplishments met in the fall semester. And it doesn’t go without noting that the ISU administration was devoted to listen to the concerns of students. But that can’t stop after just one semester. There has to be more opportunities for conversation between the students and leaders of Iowa State. And if those opportunities are granted, students have to grasp at any opportunity to express the changes that can better Iowa State University, now and for future students.