The Government of the Student Body meeting that took place on Wednesday may have seemed much like any other GSB meeting to someone who is not involved in the organization. However, the importance of tonight’s meeting was higher than usual. On Wednesday, new Supreme Court Justices were voted into the Government of the Student Body.

Last April, nine Supreme Court Justices, along with their advisor, resigned from GSB through a letter to the editor. Since then, GSB has been without a Supreme Court. In order for a government to function properly, there must be all three parts, without which a government may, in fact, not be ruled fairly. Hopefully with new Justices there will be a stronger student government.

It has been mentioned that in the past that members of the Supreme Court were passive and were not as involved in GSB as they could have been. By electing new justices, there could be a heavier involvement by the Supreme Court Justices than there has been in the past.

During the election, four new Supreme Court Justices were voted into their positions. Akol Dok, Alex Lindvall, Brian Garrido and Justin Pearson were voted to become Supreme Court Justices. While some are more prepared than others, all showed the passion it takes to become a Supreme Court Justice.

Three of the candidates achieved the positions with little to know struggle, but when it came to one candidate, Pearson, discussion seemed to pick up quite a bit. Pearson said in his first statement that he did not have experience with any previous court and did not plan on going to law school and that he was just “passionate” about what a Supreme Court Justice is and the job they are asked to do. 

Sen. Richard Hartnett disagreed with the decision to vote in Pearson based on his passion.

“A court should not be ruled by passion, a court should be ruled by logic,” Hartnett said. “We need to do this right. There could very well be someone better for this position,”

While it is understandable that he is concerned with the candidates being able to perform their duties well as Justices, it is also great for students to care deeply about the job they are doing as a member of the Government of the Student Body, and that is public service.

“It is ridiculous that we expect them to be skilled in law. This is not the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Zach Bauer, GSB senator. Bauer agreed with the idea that a Supreme Court Justice needs to have passion about what they are involved in, and we as students should be equally passionate and involved in the changes that are happening within our student government.

While there has not been a judicial branch of the student government for months, many students were not aware of the fact nor understood why it is a problem. GSB funds many of the groups on campus and works closely with them, as well as with the school administration. GSB also makes decisions on implementing new programs such as bike share, which is currently going through review. 

If we as students are not paying attention to what is happening in GSB, we are not paying attention to the direction in which Iowa State University is going. The days where we as students can step aside without paying any mind to the student body is over. There needs to be a stronger student presence. 

Of course there is a senator that represents every student on our campus, but how are they going to know what our comments and concerns are if we do not share them? We have four new Supreme Court Justices that have been elected this week, but next week there will still be people who are unaware of that. We students need to be more involved and learn who is representing us. We should be proud that our new justices chose to take charge and become part of the student body, whether they had the right experience or not, and we should be proud that GSB is working to be whole again.

Now is the time to be paying attention to the changes in student government, because they affect us directly. We all have voices. It is time to start using them.