Distinguished members of ISU faculty were divided at Monday’s faculty forum when it came to the non-tenure-eligible research positions proposal being considered by the Faculty Senate.

The policy in discussion will authorize the new non-tenure-eligible faculty position of “research professor.” Separate ranks of the title will include assistant, associate and full professor.

Faculty members in favor of the position feel the creation of the position is essential to attract more high-profile candidates and to have greater retention of such candidates for the job. According to the task force report on non-tenure-eligible research faculty, there is no current position title for non-tenure positions that provide the individuals with an accurate reflection of the roles they perform.

Alan Goldman, distinguished professor of physics and astronomy, former Ames Lab director and panelist in the forum, said he supports the creation of the new position.

“[Professional and scientific] staff are a vital thing to make things go; they can serve the university really quite well,” Goldman said, who indicated that such faculty deserve the position suggested by the proposal.

Other members on the panel were not in favor of seeing the proposal passed.

Jack Girton, professor in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology and former president of the Faculty Senate, said he didn’t originally want to comment, but went around and talked to faculty to hear their opinions.

He based his argument off the fact that the majority of faculty he talked with felt very strongly that the implementation of the policy was not a good idea.

There are several concerns he and other faculty share, Girton said.

“If you call [researchers] professors, it’s degrading the position – some people really had to earn the name. Just putting ‘research’ in front of ‘professor’ as a modifier indicates they weren’t hired under tenure. But it’s too close to tenured,” Girton said.

“A second concern is if you have these people called professors, they will eventually be used to replace professors that went through rigorous reviews to get their positions.”

Several other faculty members spoke with different viewpoints to support separate sides of the issue.

The issue is a very tricky and emotional one, Girton said.

“If there weren’t good people with good intentions on both sides of the issue, there wouldn’t be a controversy,” he said.

A second faculty forum very similar to Monday’s will be held Tuesday from noon to 1 p.m. in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union.

Faculty members who wish to ask questions on the policy are urged to attend.