Ames is not an island separate from the rest of the country. McCarney’s raise must be put into the context of the huge disparity between yearly salaries of the best paid in the United States and the rest of us.

Corporate bosses in the US make much more, as a percentage of the average wage, than anyone in the advanced world. Iowa university coaches of the well-publicized sports make much more than other university employees.

The excuse that the money does not come from the general fund does not cut it. Without the university name on his team, McCarney could not succeed. Let the university as a whole, through its general fund, benefit from McCarney’s use of its name, not him personally. His “success” at doing his job is no greater than the success of a chemistry or history professor who teaches well and awakens young people to the world of intellectual excitement.

In addition, McCarney’s efforts undermine humane values by contributing to the militarization of the American mentality through an emphasis on cheering on one’s own side against the foe. No wonder the Pentagon buys television advertising time during sports programming.

John Broman