Claiming that the ISU administration is responsible for creating “a climate of fear and repression,” several faculty members have written and are distributing a petition supporting an evaluation of ISU President Martin Jischke’s performance as university president.

The petition, which began circulating Tuesday and will continue until about Feb. 25, states, “We are dissatisfied with Martin Jischke’s performance as President of Iowa State University, and we request that the Board of Regents, State of Iowa evaluate the situation and take appropriate actions.”

The petition was written by several current and former faculty members. The faculty members who signed their names to the petition as co-releasers are: Neal Bowers, distinguished professor of English; Shu-Min Huang, professor of anthropology; Carl Mize, associate professor of forestry; Edward Pollack, professor of statistics; David Gradwohl, professor emeritus of anthropology; Bill Kunerth, professor emeritus of journalism and mass communication; and Jorgen Rasmussen, distinguished emeritus professor of political science. Dave Cmelik, ISU alumnus and current University of Iowa student, also signed the petition.

The petition states that “many faculty and other concerned individuals are dissatisfied with the declining importance of undergraduate education and teaching, inadequate communication with faculty concerning the direction of the University, and a climate of fear and repression that has been created at ISU.”

Kunerth said the entire ISU administration is included in the concerns.

“It’s the kind of administration in which only people who agree with the president are hired, and if they don’t agree with him, they’re gone,” he said.

Jischke responded to the criticism Tuesday evening by saying Iowa State is making progress.

“I think there’s an overwhelming feeling across Iowa, within the university and the Board of Regents, that Iowa State is a far better university today than it was 10 years ago, and if these people continue to complain, it is unfortunate, but I guess they have the right to do so,” he said.

Jischke said some of the supporters of the petition “have been complaining about the university for over a decade.”

Kunerth said the petition was circulated because the administration has lost sight of the mission of the university.

“I’ve never seen a situation in which I thought that the administration paid so little attention to the core mission of the university and paid so much attention to other things like money,” he said.

Kunerth said Jischke is not concerned enough about the university community.

“One basic complaint I have is that his main concern is with audiences external to the university. He’s concerned about developing relationships with the regents, with rich alumni, with the state Legislature,” he said “He doesn’t seem to [care] about the constituencies within the university.”

Kunerth said Jischke values teaching less than other issues not as central to the university.

“Teaching has taken not even second place, probably third or fourth place,” he said. “There’s research; there’s raising money; there’s developing a prestige for the university. I think all of those come before emphasizing good undergraduate education, particularly rewarding those people responsible for that.”

Gradwohl, professor emeritus of anthropology, said the pressure to publish and get grants is distracting faculty members from other matters.

“I think that Iowa State is simply turning into a large corporation and that money speaks,” he said. “There seems to be an undue focus on that, and in terms of not only promotion and tenure, but post-tenure review, there are a lot of people who are afraid to speak.”

Mize agreed there is an apprehension among faculty to speak out against the administration.

“I know some people in retirement who are afraid to sign [the petition]; they’re afraid of revenge,” Mize said. “People do seem to be afraid of President Jischke; he seems to rule with an iron hand.”

Supporters of the petition said the recent disagreement between ISU Provost Rollin Richmond and some members of the Faculty Senate about the importance of professor research was not the driving force behind the petition.

But Mize said Richmond’s comments at the Jan. 11 Faculty Senate meeting may influence some people to sign the petition.

“The faculty relationship with the administration has not been good since Martin Jischke has been around,” Mize said. “[Richmond] just said it in a worst manner that really provoked the faculty.”

The petition was originally aimed at faculty, Mize said, but interest among other groups, such as students, convinced them to make it available to the community at large.

“Other people said, ‘We want to sign in.’ One student said, ‘If we can’t sign, we’ll sign anyway,'” he said.

Gradwohl said the goal of the petition is to convince the Board of Regents to conduct an evaluation of Jischke’s performance.

“I think that if the faculty are subjected to post-tenure review and scrutinized, then all the administration should be,” he said. “I don’t think they have to go through the kind of review that faculty do, and I don’t understand why.”

In response, Jischke said he is already reviewed annually.

“I am evaluated every year by the Board of Regents and a little over a year ago went through a rigorous evaluation by the Faculty Senate,” he said.