The idea of an Iowa State faculty club may not be as impossible as it seems.

When Bill Woodman became faculty senate president, one of his goals was to develop a faculty club.

Woodman said the response from faculty has been very positive. The idea of the proposed club is “attractive” to Iowa State faculty, and he said has received no negative reactions.

“I think the problem that the idea has is, it sort of has an image of old white haired guys sitting around smoking cigars,” Woodman said.

The club would provide a place where it would be possible for faculty to quietly meet, have lunch with other people on campus and get to know one another.

Woodman said there wouldn’t be a lot of crushing pressures like there is in Ames’ restaurants.

Because Iowa State entertains a large number of professional visitors, including candidates for faculty and administrative positions, visiting professors and guest speakers, Woodman said he thinks the idea is a good one.

There is no place to take the visitors on campus because there are no nice restaurants located right on campus, Woodman said.

“I think it would be a device that would help to improve the sense of community among the faculty,” he said.

Because a lot of faculty are involved with students, research and other things, the club would help unite members of the faculty. Woodman said faculty spend so much time with students that it tends to “alienate” them from colleagues.

Woodman said the original idea was to have the club located in Morrill Hall.

“I still think Morrill Hall is one of the most recognizable buildings on campus,” he said. The historical building is also centrally located so most faculty would have access to it.

Woodman said it would cost $6.5 million to renovate the building. The faculty senate budget is considerably lower than the money needed to renovate Morrill Hall.

“It’s hard externally to raise funds to renovate buildings,” Woodman said.

If Morrill Hall were used for the club, there would also be a place where commuting students could go and relax. The area would have a lounge area as well as lockers, Woodman said.

“There are all kinds of wonderful things to do with such a place,” he said.

The Cardinal Room in the Memorial Union is also being considered. Woodman said it “wouldn’t be terribly expensive” to renovate the room and provide food service.

Woodman said he has talked to ISU President Martin Jischke about the possibility of the club, and said Jischke thinks it’s a good idea.

He said the only question Jischke had about the club was, “How can we raise the money to do it and where would it be?”

Right now Woodman is calling for people who would like to work on the project. A committee will be formed and its members will start to put a proposal together for the university.

They will also talk to people who run faculty clubs at other universities. “The precedent is easy enough to follow,” Woodman said.

Woodman doesn’t know “functionally” how long it could take to get the faculty club up and running. “If we were talking about using the Cardinal Room as it currently exists, it wouldn’t take very long at all,” he said.

If the idea isn’t talked about at all, Woodman said, it might never happen.

“There would undoubtedly be a kind of cost attached to it,” he said. “Faculty would have to buy a membership in some way so the system would be able to operate.

“The faculty club would have meeting facilities, where lots of faculty sorts of things could take place,” Woodman said.