Feedback, for almost any job, is important. It’s even important if you’re a big-shot university president.

But too often in the upper-salary levels of government employment, feedback is lost. We doubt that President Clinton, for example, gets his job reviews every six months as prescribed by most employers.

Now granted, public opinion is a powerful review, but it’s not the kind of detail-oriented evaluation an employee needs to judge his success or failure. Iowa State President Martin Jischke, for example, is evaluated daily by university sentiment, but that kind of criticism or praise doesn’t tell the whole story.

That’s why this first-ever faculty survey evaluation of President Jischke is just a gosh-darn good idea. Instead of vague praise or random jabs from regents, Jischke’s immediate supervisors, Jischke will be evaluated by people who are actually in a position to do so.

It’s impossible for regents, quite frankly, to know how Jischke’s doing. None of them lives in Ames. None of them spends a great deal of time on the Iowa State campus. The most objective literature the regents receive about Jischke, their employee, is generated in the media. That’s not enough for a supervisor to base decisions on salary, contracts, benefits and the like.

The faculty, on the other hand, are here every day. Some know the president. They see him at work. They take orders from him. They talk about him around the water cooler. They, presumably, know the skinny.

The survey, by all accounts, isn’t perfect. For example, the critique that reads: “Promotes and contributes to group planning and goal setting at all levels throughout the university,” is strange. Most faculty have actual contact with Jischke less than a couple times a semester.

But the survey, on the whole, is good.

We hope faculty take it seriously.

We hope Jischke takes it seriously.

We know we do.