I was shocked the new honors building will be named for Martin Jischke. I have worked more closely with him than the majority of students on campus, and I cannot accept this decision by the university. Jischke has quit; it is now time for Iowa State to stop sucking up to him.

The ISU Foundation would know best about the gobs of alumni money Jischke raked in, but the Foundation is blind to the mission of the honors program and Jischke’s lack of contribution to that mission: enhancing undergraduate education.

I cannot accept, and urge the regents to similarly refuse, the notion that Jischke had any special place in his heart for the honors program (except as a resource from which to cull his President’s Leadership Class, of which I am a graduate), or its mission of enhancing undergraduate education.

Name the next engineering building after Jischke. Name the next administration building after Jischke. But do not name the new honors facility after Jischke. The obvious choice is the recently retired Edwin C. Lewis, who was deeply involved with the Honors Program.

When he retired, a rumor began that there would be a proposal to name the new honors building after him. He declined the offer, suggesting they name the speed bump at the end of the new driveway after him. Lewis is far and away the obvious choice.

Save Jischke for a building that embodies his special contributions to Iowa State: a research facility, perhaps, or a new treasury. Whatever the outcome, my only comfort is that if worse comes to worse, I would sooner drop out of the Honors Program than participate in the hypocrisy of attending an undergraduate honors class in “Jischke Hall.”

Curt Lund

Senior

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