If you wanted to ask President Steven Leath about recent changes to the Harkin Institute of Public Policy, where could you go? 

You could email him. You could go to his office in Beardshear Hall and see if he’s around. You could try to catch him as he’s arriving in the morning. Or, you could have walked up to him, shaken his hand, introduced yourself, and asked him in person at last Wednesday’s forum that put students in the same room as top-level university administrators.

It’s the same place you could have asked any question you so desired to Jonathan Wickert, senior vice president and provost; Tom Hill, senior vice president for student affairs; Warren Madden, senior vice president for business and finance; Nancy Levandowski, director of campus dining services; and Pete Englin, director of the Department of Residence.

A few of us attended the forum. Although we were not among the students who asked questions, we were happy to observe and watch several other students do so, preferring to stay within our allotted role. (We do, after all, have the ability to opine here every day). And we were immensely encouraged by what we saw there.

Students asked questions about the Harkin Institute, a controversy that we will not yet discuss here but which we can say the Ames Tribune and Des Moines Register reports are worth reading. The panel of administrators was asked to say what they thought are the top issues facing students as well as what plans are currently in the works that let them geek out at work. 

They were asked about the recent hire of Joe Murphy, who has ties to Regent Bruce Rastetter and therefore implicated the AgriSol controversy, as Iowa State’s state relations officer without a search. They were asked how to constructively criticize a faculty member whose teaching abilities are less than comprehensible.

But those are only a few of the issues discussed. What could have been a boring Q-and-A session or a dead one filled with silence was, instead, a well-attended event that allowed students to spotlight their concerns and add their perspective to issues that the university administration deal with every day. (Curious parties can read a Daily story online and listen to a recording of the hour-and-a-half-long forum.)

No longer can we think that the students of Iowa State are the sort who would say, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Rather, if Wednesday is any indication, they would probably continue attending such fora if given the chance. We know we would.