On Jan. 22 the Daily reported that Iowa State lost 55 faculty members in 2001, reflective of the overall statistics of Regents universities, who report 158 faculty resignations during the 2000-2001 academic year, only seven less than the record 165 in 1987.

While the increase in losses is easy to blame on the budget cut set in place by the Iowa Legislature in response to the sluggish state economy, there is also clearly a failure of administration to work effectively with one of its most important resources, university faculty, in a mutually satisfactory manner.

For example, in response to the fact that the Iowa State College of Liberal Arts and Sciences had 26 faculty resign, the most of any ISU college, LAS Dean Peter Rabideau said, “There is always opportunity for good faculty,” a troubling statement that would seem to indicate his belief that faculty are a dime-a-dozen.

While such an attitude might work in a Maquiladora, (although it does not seem to work for long even in sweat- shops), it is wrong-headed to think that America’s institutions of higher learning can devalue those who actually carry out their primary mission of teaching and research and still be effective. Faculty are not transient labor.

The loss of initial investments in badly treated faculty who end up leaving, to say nothing of the loss of long term returns on those investments, is not sound. Yet, that seems to be one result of current Iowa university policy with regard to many faculty, as reflected in the latest statistics regarding faculty resignations among the state’s three major institutions.

Another result is the loss of extremely hard-to-come-by diversity faculty, including the former head of Minority Student Affairs, and a talented computer systems information manager, both of whom have already departed. While the loss of two individuals might not seem especially noteworthy, poor relations with diversity faculty will likely result in the loss of most existing LAS diversity faculty in the very near future unless non-supportive and sometimes downright hostile work environments are changed.

This particular aspect of the Daily chart showing LAS way ahead of all other ISU colleges in faculty resignations is scary, and bears even closer examination than the excessive numbers.

Sidner Larson

Associate professor

English