It is ironic that unmet registration requests are up again at Iowa State University. As an alumnus who suffered under former ISU President Martin Jischke’s misplaced priorities, I understand such times well. In 1994, shortly after Martin Jischke began his decade of decline at Iowa State University, unmet registration requests numbered near 20,000. Even assuming each student made two or three such requests, between six and ten thousand students went without courses they likely needed to graduate.

Martin Jischke is gone but his legacy lives on. Administrators dismissed these numbers even as they were justifying $59 million in so-called “deferred maintenance” costs. To pay for this procrastination and bad management, other priorities suffered. They are still suffering. Basically, Iowa State couldn’t manage its money and wasted it on pet projects and sweetheart deals instead of educating you now. And it continues.

For example, even as regents jack up tuition by double digits, the foundation recently announced it will add two more highly-paid vice presidents and nearly 30 other highly paid employees to its now “private” payroll – raised from donations from ISU alumni and other benefactors. It is turning down state money so it doesn’t have to open its books.

So don’t be fooled by the administrative fingers pointing to the Iowa Legislature. It’s not about a shortfall. For years, Iowa State’s private fund raising arm has been boasting about more than enrollment. They’ve got bragging rights to billions in secret dollars you’ll never see in your educational experience. Why? Because the books and pet projects of the so-called private corporations that collect cold hard cash in the name of good ol’ Iowa State flow into coffers unhindered by the prying eyes of public watchdogs, auditors, and taxpayers. In short, you’ve been shorted. And you should be madder than spit about it. You probably are given your current situation.

But what can you do? Help open the books at the Iowa State University Foundation and other so-called “quasi-affiliated” university organizations. Call your respective legislators to introduce and support the bill to hold the fat cats at the Foundation accountable. It’s a bill that got killed last year because of university-backed lobbyists. Such bills are sometimes called “sunshine” laws because they shine a light where it has never shone before.

Statehouse politicians will likely take up the matter again in January when the session begins in Des Moines. In the interest of public accountability, it was recently reported that the Iowa Newspaper Association also supports this legislative priority. The addresses and telephone numbers for your hometown legislators can be found at www.legis.state.ia.us.

David A. Cmelik

ISU Alum, 1995