The Iowa Board of Regents came out with an earth-shattering study last week showing that the average professor at Iowa universities works 56.8 hours per week. For people believing that professors are getting paid too much for too little work, this research could help squash those beliefs.

Unfortunately, this study does the exact opposite, adding fuel to the argument that professors are overpaid. The regents prepared an annual survey about the number of hours each professor works during the week for the board, but those results aren’t confirmed.

Even one of the board members was quoted as saying he was “uneasy” with the findings. The conclusion of the survey could be absolutely true, but without the verification of the research from the regents, the study has no validity.

Since the research wasn’t verified, it leaves a hole for the opposing arguments. People will question the results if a member of the Regents questions the outcome.

This study is another example of the regents having a good opportunity to prove a point, but instead failing to pull through.

In a time of a budget crisis, the regents could have used the research for leverage in getting more funding, but they chose to release the results without any backing.

In a time where ISU students and faculty are worried about tuition increases and getting proper funding for higher education, the regents, as well as the schools involved, must not let occasions like this one pass them by.

The hour is upon the regents and its schools to begin to take action when these situations arise. And only when everyone is working together can a real difference be made.

The regents and Iowa’s universities must start organizing their fight on a much larger scale. These groups have attempted to join together to fight these harmful situations in the past year, but it has not been enough.

The people who have made attempts stand to better their community and should be commended. However, as this school may soon learn, just wanting to keep higher education affordable is not enough.

Many people see Iowa State and the other regent universities on opposing sides with the Board of Regents. This is simply not the case. The regents don’t demand that tuition be raised. Their job is to make sure the universities have enough money to function properly.

The schools and the regents must begin to work as a single unit to keep higher education within reach for Iowa’s students.

To claim that tuition will not be on the up again next year is being naive, based on projective budget numbers from the state of Iowa.

There are two options for the individual student to take. The first says tuition is going up anyway, so there is no need to fight. Those who can afford it will stay and those who can not, sorry. The other option is the student can spare minimal amounts of their time to save an abundance of money in the future.

Many students will choose option one, but I would encourage people to take a hard look at what they can do to help themselves and their classmates during these hikes in tuition.

Considerably fewer people will choose option two, and we should be mindful that they believe in their fight to make a difference to better this campus.

This column started as a complaint about the handling of one issue, but is for those individuals who stood idly by with the belief that they could not make a difference. Everyone can make a difference, no matter the size. If someone doesn’t, then a friend may be forced to leave campus. Or maybe you are that friend already on the way out.

David Frost is a sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communication from Des Moines.