To the editor:

I respond to few columns in the DAILY, but I feel obligated to comment on Sara Ziegler’s Monday column.

First, it is disappointing that you rely on such generalities when you know better. You are in a position to get answers and cite facts, but you seem to prefer to offer cliches.

I recall speaking with you last year about why alumni and others make donations to Iowa State. I encouraged you to actually speak with donors and ask what motivated them to act. I repeat that suggestion.

Your suggestion that “rich ISU alumni” make contributions in order to get their names on buildings tells me you have made no effort to understand giving.

Are you suggesting that Stan and Helen Howe were only motivated because their name would be a permanent part of the new engineering complex?

Are you suggesting that “They’ve done nothing to earn the honor of having the latest building named after them except make a lot of money?” If you are, then you have not listened to anything they’ve said or read anything about their interest in students and engineering education.

And think about alumni donors. These are men and women who attended Iowa State and have an attachment to the institution. They want to give something back to their school. No one makes them do it.

I have also spoken with you about Iowa State’s “Campaign Destiny” fund drive and the intended benefits of the more than $400 million pledged to date. More than $80 million of the total is dedicated to scholarships.

In other words, these donors (alumni and friends) are pledging money to directly help students that attend Iowa State — no building names, no dedications.

Yes, some of the money helps construct new buildings. Each building has a purpose: classrooms, laboratories, computer labs, athletic events, etc. And in each case, there is a benefit to students.

In your description of funding sources at Iowa State, you leave out the largest single source of money and the most obvious: state appropriations.

Nearly 40 percent of Iowa State’s budget comes from the legislature. This year, that amounts to $261.8 million. Yes, students pay tuition, but because state support has traditionally been strong in Iowa, they pay a smaller percentage than many students do in other states.

Let me cite one other item in your column where you are ignoring facts: your reference to student seating at Hilton Coliseum.

You are absolutely wrong in saying students “have been moved to the balcony.” In fact, Iowa State is one of only two Big 12 universities that provide mid-court seating for students at basketball games and mid-field student seating for football. There are student seats in the parquet sections at Hilton, but students don’t even use the full allotment provided to them.

You should know this because the Iowa State Athletic Department in 1999 briefed the Daily sports staff about seating and showed them a seating diagram.

But apparently it’s easier to rely on rumor and unfounded complaints than to base your opinions on solid information.

Let me share one other fact with you about students and basketball. The price for a student season pass to women’s basketball this year is $15. That provides admission to 16 games. That’s less than one dollar a game to see a nationally-ranked Iowa State team.

If the Athletic Department were motivated solely by money, these tickets would certainly cost more, especially when the seats are between the baselines.

As for your concluding remarks that “students are being used for their tuition (and) faculty are being used for their research (and) no one is learning anything,” that’s an incredible indictment for one person to direct toward all students and faculty.

Sara, if as a senior you feel you have not learned anything, I am very sorry for you. I suspect there are a lot of students and researchers here who feel differently about their years at Iowa State.

I’m always available to speak with you.

John McCarroll

Director

University Relations