I was listening to a band last Saturday when a jumpy little kid approached me and handed me a piece of paper. On it was the Web address: call.to/jischke.

The kid was shakin’ like a carney on speed and mumbled something about how this was “huge.”

Since then, I’ve looked at the site and read President Martin Jischke’s response in the Daily. I don’t see how anyone could not see Jischke’s position on the Board of Directors of Banker’s Trust of Iowa — where Iowa State’s general account is held —as being a conflict of interest with his job as ISU president.

It seems pretty clear that Jischke has done nothing illegal. I spent Thursday afternoon pouring over section 68B.2A of the Iowa Code, and the only conclusion I could come to is that Jischke is a big jerk.

Just because something is legal doesn’t make it ethical.

In 1997, four years after joining the Board of Directors, Iowa State’s five separate accounts were consolidated into one at Banker’s Trust. Maybe this was done in the best interest of the ISU account. Maybe it would have happened whether Jischke was on the Board or not, but we have to wonder.

Consolidating the accounts was certainly in the best interests of Banker’s Trust, and no matter how you slice it, Jischke comes out ahead. There was obviously more at play when he decided to move the accounts than the best interests of Iowa State.

Jischke contends that he leaves the room whenever Bankers Trust deals with the ISU account. Whether he’s inside the room, at the water cooler or down the street at Blimpie’s is irrelevant.

His job as ISU president is to do whatever is in the best interests of Iowa State. His job as a board member for Banker’s Trust is to make money for the bank. One way they are doing that is with the ISU account. These roles are in obvious conflict.

People seem to be making a big deal out of this whole episode, but I look at it as just another in a long chain of examples of how Martin Jischke neither knows nor cares what is in the best interests of ISU students or faculty.

What is most insulting about the whole affair is that Jischke and his cronies are treating the concerns of students with a “run along now, children,” mentality.

What will it take for Jischke and the regents to realize that something is wrong here? The faculty has been circulating a petition complaining about the way Jischke runs the university, students have felt marginalized for years — what will it take for administrators to take some of this seriously?

On a handful of occasions, a mob of students has actually gathered outside of Jischke’s house, only to be hustled along by the police. These incidents are quickly brushed off as mere delinquency, but would people bother marching to the Knoll if they thought Dr. Jischke was doing a good job?

No one expects the university to be perfect, but we would at least like to feel as if it were heading in the right direction. Jischke doesn’t even pretend he’s listening to the students — or the faculty, for that matter.

As long as the ISU cash cow stays fat, the regents seem to feel that he’s doing a satisfactory job.

The only things I see that Dr. Jischke may be attentive to at Iowa State are the financial accounts. Now it seems questionable whether he’s even working in the best interests of those accounts.

Students and faculty have voiced their disapproval with Jischke and been completely ignored. What level of demonstration will be necessary for the powers that be to take notice?

For the time being, the administration seems content to paint student protesters as children who don’t understand how things work in the grown-up world. In the April 13 issue of the Daily, John McCarroll made reference to possible copyright violations on the site. This is a perfect example of the administration trying to undermine a student movement without even listening to what it has to say.

People seem pretty excited right now, but realistically, what can we expect from all this?

Jischke has done nothing illegal, or at least I’d be surprised if he had. There doesn’t seem to be anything in the Iowa Code that he has violated. If anyone is expecting this debate to find its way into a courtroom they’re kidding themselves.

I think Jischke’s involvement with Banker’s Trust stinks, but for all I know, every other university president in the country does the same thing.

I know the administration will try to make it seem like call.to/jischke is making a mountain out of a mole hill, and maybe it is.

I hope, after all of this, the regents will finally question what kind of job Jischke is doing for Iowa State. I hope Jischke and the rest of the administration will begin to seriously listen to the complaints of students and faculty.

Whether he’s working in the interests of the ISU general account, Banker’s Trust or simply himself, one thing is certain: Martin Jischke is doing painfully little in the interests of students and faculty.

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Ben Godar is a senior in sociology from Ames. He is an assistant arts & entertainment editor for the Daily.