As a member of the Catt Hall Review Committee, I wish to thank all those who contributed their time and effort to this process.

For the first time in three years, a group of people representing a wide range of opinions has been able to discuss this issue without the use of stonewalling or the flinging of accusations.

At the beginning of this conflict, I would never have thought this possible. It seemed that the division of viewpoints and emotions on this campus ran much too deeply to foster a fair and academic study of the controversy.

On this point I have been proven wrong.

While our work as a committee has concluded, we are far from having closure on this issue.

It is my hope that the resolution items recommended in our report will bring the campus closer to this goal.

However, the implementation of these action items alone will not heal the battle scars accumulated by those closest to the conflict.

While it is the view of many on our committee that healing must come through open and inclusive communication, unfortunately the climate of this campus does little to encourage this.

Fear runs rampant at this university.

Allegations of academic dishonesty and shoddy scholarship abound, non-tenured faculty resort to silence as a form of job security, and students organized in free speech demonstrations are subsequently charged with disrupting the academic environment, tried, convicted and sentenced behind closed doors.

These characteristics bear an uncanny resemblance to those of an exploitative authoritarian government.

So, what is the answer? Unfortunately, regarding issues as delicate as the Catt Hall Controversy, it is highly unlikely that a single right answer can be found.

What is obviously needed is leadership at the administrative level that is willing to take responsibility for their actions or lack thereof.

The students, faculty and staff at Iowa State deserve to hold accountable those who assume the responsibility of presiding over the university.

Only when the administration admits that mistakes were made, emotions were trampled and that there is more than President Jischke’s side to every story, can this campus ever hope to begin healing.

In closing, it is not my intention that Carrie Chapman Catt or this controversy be wiped out of the history books.

To the contrary, I believe that people in the community will continue to study and discuss the issue for years to come.

Hopefully, they will now have the tools to do so in an academic and scholarly manner, thanks in great part to not only the members of this committee, but also Matt Ostanik and the Government of the Student Body for making this effort possible.

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Elisa Strachan

Junior

Journalism and mass communication and political science