As students, faculty and staff at Iowa State make their goals for the new year and reassess their priorities, ISU administrators are doing the same.

To help the university bear across-the-board budget cuts, President Gregory Geoffroy has decided to leave the position of Vice President of External Affairs vacant, saving the university approximately $250,000.

The position, currently filled by interim Vice President Benjamin Allen, is responsible for representing Iowa State to the public. It oversees University Relations, Intercollegiate Athletics, the Alumni Association, the Iowa State Center, WOI Radio, University Museums, University Marketing and Reiman Gardens.

In the days of former President Martin Jischke, it was one of the most important offices on campus. With the help of then-External Affairs Vice President Murray Blackwelder and the ISU Foundation, Jischke raised more than $458.6 million dollars during the 5-year “Campaign Destiny: To Become the Best.” Considered the largest fund raising initiative ever at Iowa State, it ended June 30, 2000. Jischke left for Purdue University in August 2000 and Blackwelder followed in April 2001. Geoffroy moved into Beardshear, the ISU Foundation moved off campus, and, it seems, the External Affairs office began to play a more subdued role in university fund raising and public relations.

Now, as Iowa State looks at deappropriating $11.4 million from its budget, the office will cease to exist. This is a realistic and fiscally responsible decision by Geoffroy and other ISU administrators.

Instead of the External Affairs vice president reporting to the president and other administrators, the eight offices under its supervision will be divided up to report directly, cutting out more middle management. For example, the offices of University Relations, Intercollegiate Athletics and the Alumni Association will report directly to Geoffroy.

It does not take money out of colleges’ budgets. It does not damage students’ education. When Allen, formerly dean of the College of Business, moves back into a faculty position on July 1, the university will save $189,000 from his salary as interim vice president and $61,000 from the salaries of the two office staff and office supplies.

Now take this money and break it down to a smaller scale, say an assistant professor making about $36,000 a year.

Allen’s salary alone equals that of a couple of professor or teaching assistant positions. Include the rest of the office’s expenses and that’s almost two more positions. Spread those professors across a couple classes and it could make a big difference in the size of those classes and the quality of education students receive in them. Iowa State is facing challenges on all levels. It’s reassuring to see the president and other university administrators accepting those challenges, even if it means they have a longer to-do list.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Zach Calef, Omar Tesdell