Mike Otis, associate director of human resource services, will discuss the university’s 2010 employee benefit plans and take questions at an open forum sponsored by the Professional and Scientific Council on Wednesday.

The forum is open to the public, and we’re encouraging you to attend.

You may or may not be a member of Iowa State’s faculty or staff, so you may or may not be receiving health care or retirement benefits from the university, but sacrifices are about to be asked of those who are and do, and regardless of your position in the ecosystem of Iowa State, you should know about it.

On top of losing funds for office supplies you might not consider novelties, such as paper, printer toner and office phones, many across campus will also take on additional responsibilities, as departments cut staff and require those who remain to seek out more funding to keep themselves employed.

In short, it’s not a great time to be employed here.

And then the university turns to “novelties” like benefits, which, for many employed by the state, are one of the reasons they took the work in the first place, because, for the most part, many professors’ professions pay much more than does research and instruction at a land-grant institution, where accessibility is one of the Regents’ primary missions.

Gov. Chet Culver’s mandated budget cuts will force administrators, deans and department heads to dig deep to find the funds to keep us in class and on our way toward graduation; we’re just hoping that it won’t mean sacrificing the well-being of those behind the lecterns in the process.

We can all afford to “cut the fat,” as some have put it, but there are limits to our meagerness, and we hope the university will tread lightly where benefits are concerned.

Time/Date:    Noon, Wednesday

Location:    Gallery, Memorial Union

Note:    Attendees may bring their lunch.