I am writing to say how pleased I am that the Board of Regents has decided to show their continuing indifference to faculty and students at Iowa State. Despite votes of 55-10 by the ISU Faculty Senate and 40-0 by the Government of the Student Body in favor of removing Martin Jischke’s name from the Honors Building, the Regents said they thought Jischke’s name should remain.

I am impressed with their willingness to overlook his instigation of the sale of the Powers farm, which certainly brought considerable embarrassment to Iowa State and harm to future fund raising. I am also impressed with Jischke’s and the Regents’ unwillingness to open the records of the Foundation, insuring that similar incidents will be kept secret. And they weren’t fazed that while Jischke was a paid member of the Board of Directors of Bankers Trust, he transferred almost all university accounts to that bank from other banks in Iowa.

I am sure they would have been pleased with his complete stonewalling of the members of the Sept. 29 group about the naming of Catt Hall so that their protests went on for over a year. And apparently Jischke’s repeated claim that “undergraduate education is the No. 1 priority at Iowa State” was convincing, at least to the Regents, although many at Iowa State believe it to be a shameless lie. Let’s not forget his frequently repeated mantra that “Iowa State will be the premier land-grant university.”

Now, we know the Regents loved him for saying this so often, because they were the ones that pulled that goal out of thin air about ten years ago. Although one might pause to wonder, how – with the huge budget cuts that Iowa State has had, is having and will have – it can compete to be number one, especially knowing that it was a long way from being number one before all the cuts.

Most people will say that Jischke was responsible for raising a lot of money, almost $500 million. Wow, that sounds impressive.

But I believe that $80 million of that – almost one sixth of the total, which came from the Baker estate, was coming to Iowa State even if Jischke had stayed in Rolla, Mo. I’ve even heard that members of the Baker family are unhappy with his handling of the gift.

I’ve heard that former Athletic Director Gene Smith’s wife had a lot to do with the Hixon money coming to Iowa State. Finally, the fact that the stock market was breaking records in the late 1990s and that Jischke was an excellent winer and diner of potential donors certainly helped his success.

I believe that about two dozen people, mostly administrators hired by or working for Jischke, including two who went with him to Purdue with big raises, made the “decision” to name the Honors Building after him, yet that does not seem to be a concern to the Regents. They like him, and the fact that an overwhelming majority of faculty and students appear not to like him enough to name a building after him is irrelevant.

In 1996, Jischke, responding to the Government of the Student Body request to name the Student Health Center after Tom Thielen, said that Iowa State should wait five years before deciding to name it after him. Jischke stated that waiting “permits a period of reflection on the accomplishments of the retired individual and allows the institution to reach an appropriate decision on whether to honor an individual with the naming of a building.”

It’s interesting that Tom Thielen had served ISU for almost 20 years and with relatively little controversy, while Martin Jischke served Iowa State for ten years, and many people would describe his term as controversial. If the Regents and others had not been able to get the building named after Jischke in a quick move over the summer, it likely wouldn’t have happened in five years or ever.

It is sad that the Regents show the same indifference to faculty and students that Jischke did during his stay at Iowa State. Hopefully, when the university puts on a grand opening of the building, which I assume Jischke will attend, those of us who think the naming is a poor choice will show up.

Maybe some of us will carry banners that say things like 55-10 and 40-0; some might hold any applause for members of the Board of Regents and Jischke, and some might walk out as Jischke addresses the crowd.

Carl W. Mize

Associate professor

Forestry