Iowa State University is facing a crisis that threatens its status as a respected institution of higher learning. The loss of faculty continues apace, with more faculty preparing to leave than has been made widely known. The Daily should do an investigation into the factors that are causing the oncoming exodus, the reasons for which, if not addressed, have the potential to undermine the quality of education at this university. As publicity outside the university has indicated, much of the problem with faculty retention is located within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. What factors are leading many LAS faculty to look for positions elsewhere? What are the LAS deans doing to address issues of unfair and discriminatory working conditions which some faculty have complained about to some of them?

While I have no doubt that you will meet with a “What you talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” mentality if you question certain administrators in Catt Hall, there has been a pattern of unaddressed complaints by several faculty members, and it may be time for a public discussion of exactly what has caused faculty to want to leave and what pattern of accountability one might find when looking into this issue.

Good faculty are NOT easy to come by or certain departments would not be so proud and relieved when their first choice for a position actually accepts ISU’s offer. Within my own department, English, I have been treated extremely well, and Iowa State has been a very important part of my life. But it is disheartening to see one’s colleagues (in and out of my department) make plans to leave and to sense that Iowa State has no plan to “stop the bleeding.”

If students find that professors they wanted to take classes with are gone and if faculty retention takes on a revolving door quality, it is the students who pay the price. Students are the most important part of any educational institution; Iowa State owes it to them, the faculty and the state to become proactive in dealing with the dissatisfaction that is causing faculty to leave and others to be to making plans to leave.

Iowa State is much too valuable an institution to drift into a faculty crisis. One would hope that the problems that lead to the loss of faculty will be discussed openly, honestly and in the spirit of making Iowa State an even stronger university than it already is.

Jane Davis

Associate professor

English