After considering faculty and administrative perspectives in the campuswide debate on research vs. teaching, the Government of the Student Body took a decisive stand in support of review of the current tenure policy.

Senators voted 23-9 in favor of a resolution that states, “GSB supports the faculty petition to the extent that the petition asks for a review of the administration’s tenure policy.” There was one abstention.

The senate heard from members of the administration, including ISU Provost Rollin Richmond and Howard Shapiro, vice provost for Academic Programs. In addition, temporary and permanent faculty members shared their insight on the senate resolution.

Richmond said the most recent tenure policy, which was approved last year by the faculty, “tries to move the pendulum that has shifted in the last two or three decades too far away from education.”

He pointed out that the new tenure document actually puts more emphasis on the evaluation of teaching in the university that the old one did. “It corrects what I believe is too much of an emphasis on research as a criteria for evaluating faculty,” he said.

Richmond said research and teaching are both important parts of faculty positions. “The two are intimately related,” he said. “We want evidence of scholarship. I do not believe that simply being a good teacher in the classroom provides that kind of evidence.”

The administration is responding to the faculty petition, Richmond added.

“I believe that [the administration] knows most of the points in the petition and are responding to them,” he said. “I do not believe we have an administration whose ears are closed. I believe we are responsive.”

Shapiro said it is his job to be familiar with the concerns brought up in the petition and the resolution.

“All the concerns you have are exactly the concerns I am working on on a day-to-day basis,” he told the senators. “We’re all really trying to accomplish the same thing.”

Shapiro said learning, not teaching, should be the top priority.

“The most important thing about teaching is not teaching,” he said. “The most important thing about teaching is learning.”

Shapiro said a cooperative effort needs to take place involving the administration, faculty and students to allow students to become more active learners.

“It is important,” he said. “I’ll join with you. Let’s do it together.”

Suzanne Guess, temporary instructor of English, told GSB she was not aware of the five-year term the university assigns to temporary professors when she began her teaching stint at Iowa State.

“If education is the No. 1 priority, how come I, as a temporary instructor, don’t get the resources that I need?” she asked.

Richmond responded that some of the working conditions are “unacceptable” and promised quick attention to correcting the problems. However, the way resources are distributed among departments and faculty is a matter of “value judgments,” he said.

“We need to have temporary as well as permanent professors at this university,” he said. “It is all a question of allocation of resources.”

With approval of the resolution, the GSB senators are supporting a review of the current tenure policy. The resolution does not necessarily support all points brought up in the recent faculty petition.

“The Government of the Student Body, voicing the opinion of ISU students, believes that President Martin C. Jischke’s current tenure policy rewards research at the expense of undergraduate education,” states the resolution. “The GSB encourages the administration to seek a more reasonable system of granting tenure and balancing undergraduate education with research.”