IUSA: Longer terms, please

IUSA has incredible potential to create positive change on our campus. It is the connection between the student body and the University administration. Besides the student trustee, the president of our student body is arguably the most influential student on this campus.

Nonetheless, year after year, little gets done. Over the past 10 years, almost every administration has rallied for a fall break. Although the current administration is bringing the issue to a vote before the Bloomington Faculty Council for the first time in recent history, not a single administration has accomplished its mission.

During last week’s debate between the iUnity and Kirkwood tickets, Kirkwood ticket presidential candidate Justin Kingsolver lambasted the current administration for failing to follow through, claiming “all five (campaign promises) are incomplete.” While he is technically correct, it isn’t entirely fair to say they got nothing done.

According to Ben Schulte, the director of the current administration’s bike rental task force, a campus-wide bike rental program will be ready to launch as soon as this summer.

Along with the bike rental program, the Btown administration also brought Zipcar, a low-cost car rental program, to campus. They are implementing GPS tracking systems for campus buses as well as developing monitoring systems for gym availability.

In reality, the biggest factor in IUSA’s ineptitude is time. It is unrealistic to believe an IUSA administration can accomplish anything of significance in a one-year term. By extending IUSA administration term lengths to two years, IUSA would have more time to actually work on bringing its initiatives to fruition instead of trying to figure out what it is supposed to be doing after the last administration’s members pack their bags.

E-mail: halderfe@indiana.edu