ISU President Gregory Geoffroy has handled the Morrill Hall debate with openness and thoughtfulness. On Feb. 22, he sparked the matter for debate with a newspaper column in which he gave the rather grim truth about Morrill Hall and asked for feedback from the Iowa State community.

Through the Iowa State Web site, the administration set up a Morrill Hall Web page that provided President Geoffroy’s original background information and request for feedback. In addition, the report from the hired consultants was made available online, as well as a form to complete online for comments. As part of the consultants’ report, detailed photographs of structural problems are clearly shown. As Geoffroy stated, the situation looked grim for Morrill Hall. And he favored its destruction.

As the more than 600 responses came in via e-mail, the mammoth task of putting them all online for the public to read was completed. In the end, 22 pages of comments from the Iowa State community went online, and it was clear that the vast majority of respondents favored restoration and reconstruction.

On March 28, a new letter written by Geoffroy was made available to the public via the Web page, with a sampling of responses as well as a summary, broken down by category.

In the end, 447 of 600 responses favored restoration of the building on its current site. This was an overwhelming show of support for the building and the administration responded appropriately.

In the new letter, new life seemed to have been breathed into the project. Geoffroy wrote very favorably on the project essentially saying that the public has shown its support in written form and now is the time for the funds required to make the restoration a reality. As part of the Web page, a table was created, describing what exactly would be required in private gifts in order to start the quest for the $9 million needed.

This type of openness is essential to an issue of this nature. It is critical for those in decision-influencing capacities to share their ideas and concerns with the community of students, faculty, staff, alumni and others. And even more importantly, administrators responded willingly to a position that is not necessarily a popular one in the administration.

The vast majority of respondents to Geoffroy’s invitation favored either restoring the current building or reconstructing a new building in the same place. From the original editorial written by Geoffroy, the administration’s position on Morrill was not as optimistic.

We appreciate the Iowa State administration’s impressively democratic approach to the Morrill Hall debate. It is a very delicate issue with no one clear answer. The president’s openness to all ideas and his willingness to seriously consider them is a very welcome and appreciated change.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Charlie Weaver, Omar Tesdell