After reading your Sept. 18 editorial about why Iowa State University, Inc. is not included among the U.S. News and World Report’s best universities, I decided that I needed to clarify a few things.

Apparently President Jischke has repeated the phrase “number one land-grant university” so often that even the editors of the Daily are confused.

I don’t believe President Jischke would say that ISU is number one, but that it is trying to become number one.

ISU is not, probably never will be, and should not be trying to be the number one land-grant (research) university.

ISU could be the number one land-grant (teaching) university, partially because none of the landgrant universities are trying to be number one in teaching.

But that is not ISU’s goal.

Number one, as would be defined by most people associated with universities, would be number one research university, like the University of Wisconsin, Madison; the University of California, Davis; and Cornell University.

The three previously mentioned universities are among the premier land-grant universities.

They generally accept only top high school graduates and transfer students.

Such students are generally prepared to attend a university where most of the faculty are much more involved with and interested in research than undergraduate education.

But many of the students who attend ISU are not well prepared for such an environment and need faculty who are more committed to undergraduate education.

ISU’s new corporate mantra is “The Quest to Be the Best.”

Sounds good, sounds great.

But, in reality, most of the citizens of Iowa would be strongly opposed to it if they knew that it really meant a university where research was much more important than undergraduate education.

Carl W. Mize

Associate professor

Forestry department