The ISU Foundation has announced that it will christen the new honors building after ISU President Martin Jischke despite the fact that it’s against university policy.

According to ISU guidelines, buildings shouldn’t be named after a person until at least five years after he or she has left the university by resignation, retirement or death.

The building’s name will be up for approval at Wednesday and Thursday’s Board of Regents meetings in Cedar Falls.

The Operating Guidelines for the Advisory Committee on the Naming of Buildings and Streets sets criteria for building dedications.

According to the guidelines: “Major buildings are generally named for a distinguished individual who has made extraordinary contributions of a scholarly, professional, or public service nature related to the University’s mission and whose employment by the University has been terminated for at least five years, whether by death, retirement or resignation. Nominations may be submitted at any time, but will not be reviewed by the committee until at least five years have elapsed.

“In some cases, buildings also may be named for a major donor to the construction of the building.”

Thomas Hill, vice chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Naming of Buildings and Streets, said the committee decided to make an exception to the rule when deciding on naming the honors building.

“The committee felt it was justified, that the situation warranted it because of the contributions of President Jischke,” said Hill, vice president for Student Affairs. “His contributions to the university, we felt, warranted special consideration.”

Hill said while it does not specifically say exceptions can be made to the committee’s criteria, “it doesn’t say exceptions can’t be made.”

“It states within normal circumstances we should wait five years,” Hill said. “A committee is put in place to deal with that, and I think we were within the scope of the committee to make an exception to the policy. … Typically, committees are put together to make judgment calls.”

Frank Stork, Board of Regents executive director, said announcing the naming of the honors building before getting it approved by the regents is not unusual.

“There are examples of naming of buildings and centers being handled a number of ways,” he said. “Generally, the practice has been to bring the naming of facilities to the board. … [But] I think there have been variances in the timing of that throughout the years.”

Regent David J. Fisher said he does not know what Iowa State’s policies are on naming buildings.

“I am certainly in favor of the building being named for him, but only if they can do it within the rules, or if they can find an exception to the rules,” he said.

The regents will look into whether it was appropriate to announce the building’s name without regent approval, Fisher said.

“I’m sure we’re going to look at it and review it, but I think we’ll find they were acting appropriately,” he said.

Larry Ebbers, member of the Advisory Committee on the Naming of Buildings and Streets, said the committee has made exceptions to the naming criteria before.

“We have waived the process in terms of parts of buildings, but not with total buildings,” said Ebbers, associate dean of educational leadership and policy studies.

W. Robert Parks, former ISU president and namesake of the Parks Library, said the building was named for him while he was still at Iowa State.

“It was before I retired, really. It was named after my wife and me in 1984, and I retired in 1986,” he said. “Also, [waiting five years after an individual has left Iowa State] wasn’t true of several others: Heady Hall [for Earl Heady] was named while he was here, as was Ross Hall for Earle Ross.”

Heady was the director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, and Ross wrote on the history of Iowa State.

There was no rule against naming buildings after current faculty and staff members when Parks was president, he said.

“Earlier, sort of the feeling was these honors only went to people who were retired, but it certainly wasn’t a rule,” he said.

Carl Mize, co-author of the faculty petition criticizing Jischke, said he opposed naming the building after Jischke.

“I think it’s a stupid idea. Martin Jischke is good at raising money; beyond that I don’t think he’s done a lot of good for the university,” said Mize, associate professor of forestry. “The little help he’s given to undergraduate education has been for the elite students, which is National Merit Scholars get full-ride scholarships.”

Jischke “doesn’t hold a candle” to some faculty members who have contributed to Iowa State over the years, he said.

“There are faculty at Iowa State who have made significant contributions, and to say Jischke has made more in his nine years here than, say, Neil Harl [distinguished professor of economics and agriculture] or some others, is just an abomination,” Mize said.

However, Bill Kunerth, co-author of the faculty petition, said he didn’t have a problem with the idea of the honors building being named for Jischke.

“He’s been there nine years, and there’s controversy over the quality of his service, I guess, but it’s certainly reasonable that they would name a building after someone who’s been president for nine years,” said Kunerth, professor emeritus of journalism and mass communication.

“In a way, I’m glad to see them name a building after someone who actually was a part of the university and didn’t just donate money.”

However, Kunerth said he thinks Iowa State should have waited for a period of time following Jischke’s departure before naming the building after him.

“I can understand why a building should be named after him, but I think it’s a bit presumptuous and hasty,” he said.