“Agriculture dean resigns.” “Dean Hoffman leaves position at Iowa State.” “Search beings for new dean.”

At any institution of higher learning, some amount of turnover is expected. Faculty members move out and move on, as their careers take them to other colleges and universities.

But in the last four years, an alarming number of college deans at ISU have jumped ship.

Since 1996, the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Education and Family and Consumer Science have been under the direction of three different deans each.

And now, the dean of the College of Agriculture, David Topel, is stepping down.

The loss of our college deans raises some important questions. What could be making all of these talented leaders leave?

Yes, some have undoubtedly left simply because their time at ISU was up. But too many of them have left without ever saying why, leaving us to wonder what caused their departure.

The ISU administration has an obligation to find the reason for the mass exodus of our faculty and put an end to it.

Unless, of course, the administration is the cause.

There have been far too many inconsistencies and “gray areas” in the ISU administration’s dealings with faculty. Things such as former Vice President for Human Resources Carla Espinoza telling university employees that “free speech within the environment of public higher education is a gray area” and college committees denying popular and successful professors tenure, despite the suggestion of the department, are enough to frustrate deans and students alike.

The ISU administration needs to change its policies to keep its faculty. How can we promote ISU as a positive climate for students when we can’t even convince our faculty to stay?

So many college leaders leaving ISU creates an unhappy and unstable academic environment.

This in turn creates an unhappy and unstable campus, which will surely keep ISU from “becoming the best.”