The world’s current economic situation held plenty of headlines during the recent spring semester. Unfortunately, it held little of the discussion at Iowa State.

Particularly disappointing was the silence of the ISU community. The Iowa State Daily — particularly the opinion section — would have been an excellent place for balanced debate. So would the ISU Lectures Program. Yet students and the local community hardly saw an ISU economics or finance professors offering explanations in the paper or in the lectures program for why we are where we are, and where we can go from here.

What about outside economics and finance experts? We saw speakers on economics to do with biofuels and agriculture — but what are these issues without basic economics? And where are the ISU students studying economics and finance? Perhaps they have the excuse of being concerned with studying, but are there no voices in the ISU community available for informing the rest of us?

Questions abound — What happened? Why? How do things get better? Should the government be acting as it is? How could we act absent the government’s actions? What does the future look like for students and certain careers? Should students be rethinking taking on loads of student debt at this time?

It’s no secret that Iowa State University ranks highly among public universities in student debt. In a nation deep in debt and when many must rethink their own finances, we should begin seriously examining our basic situation at home.

Theodore Wolff

ISU Alumnus