To the editor:

It is clear that the editorial staff of the Iowa State Daily has succumbed into the same fashionable anti-administration venue of their brethren publications around the country in the editorial comments regarding President Jischke.

Find me a strong university president today on a university campus who hasn’t been similarly accused? The editorial and reportorial staff need to lift their sights beyond this little prairie town and do some real investigative work. If you did you would most likely find:

Charges that there is an “atmosphere of fear and intimidation” are largely subjective on the part of those “feeling” it. And just as in the case of Iowa State they come from perceivers who also don’t seem to like post-tenure review, don’t like to think about their research responsibilities or to consider writing grants to engage in research. They just feel “threatened” by all of these “pressures.”

Hiding behind vague charges in circulating a “Furby petition” is beneath faculty who are about serious scholarly endeavors. The absence of identifiable administrative decisions/actions contained in the petition means the complainers don’t know of any. They just don’t like what they’re “feeling” and they don’t like the president’s “style” or his “savoir faire.” So the president isn’t a Furby. So what?

Charges that the university is run like a corporation and that there is too much concern for money strikes me as ironic given the tight budgetary conditions which exist at Iowa State. If the president isn’t concerned about it then he isn’t doing his job. Did the petitioners ever complain they were overpaid or that they had too much money for travel to give their research papers at scholarly conferences?

Charges that undergraduate education is ignored or diminished must be supported with specifics. In what ways?

I’ve had a recent occasion to sit across a table with three other colleagues and speak directly to the president about my research agenda. I didn’t feel threatened or intimidated by him when he asked me questions. I guess I would have if I hadn’t had a research agenda or I wasn’t doing any research.

A Research 1 university has an obligation to engage in research. There’s a lot of it going on around the campus that is important, visible, and far-reaching. I don’t need a Furby for a president. I do need to be supported in my research. I’m counting on President Jischke and his administrative staff to be there when it counts. So far I haven’t been disappointed.

Fenwick W. English

Professor

Education