Dr. David Cook officially began his term as president of Iowa State University on March 1, 2026. He is the 17th president of Iowa State University, succeeding Wendy Wintersteen, who served for eight years. With change comes hope. Hope that our achievements exceed expectations. Hope that we pioneer rather than follow. Hope that we become a home for all Cyclones.
My first hope is that Iowa State’s academics are given higher priority. The debate over whether a university’s purpose is to prioritize education for the next generation or to serve as a sanctuary of wisdom for society is purely academic right now. Both facets are suffering gravely right now.
There is a growing shortage of tenured faculty at Iowa State, as well as at other Iowa universities and many nationwide, which find it increasingly difficult to provide educators to students. As the number of students increases, the strain on staffing all undergraduate credit hours also increases. This trend also aligns with statistical evidence that larger lecture halls do not serve students as well as smaller classrooms, where more careful attention can be given to each student’s educational needs. The burden on students and faculty is compounding, and it shows in both numerical and anecdotal evidence.
Iowa State is also a tier-1 research institute, yet it sees dwindling funding increases. Not only is there a lack of new funding to meet new research needs, but also an unsettling anxiety amongst researchers who fear they might be on the chopping block soon. All this before even mentioning the government’s recent budget and program cuts, which overwhelmingly target pioneering research focused on the environment and societal change.
The purpose of this article is not to enumerate the countless issues in our educational program. It is to help highlight the more pressing, yet often overlooked, facet of leading an educational institute. Students at Iowa State do not have the luxury of patience. The need for quality education is paramount, and it is urgent. The belief that we are good enough for now is complacent and misses the potential we have to be a standout educational institution. Students are expected to be the best versions of themselves every day, but this cannot be if the institution that demands this itself is not.
The road to better academics can not be set forth without addressing the elephant in the room. It has been glaringly stated that the current administration of the United States seeks to rapidly overhaul the status of education in the country. As noble as this may sound after the issues I have already stated, their actions have proven to act in the opposite direction. Funding cuts and demands for institutions to silence students voicing humanitarian concerns, while actively waging war on minority students, hardly furthers any form of education. Weaponising education to further a political ideology, all the while claiming it is revenge, is horrible for any nation to do. Any enablers are complicit, and anyone who stays silent accepts their role as a pawn.
In these times, it is the responsibility of the leadership, particularly the president of the university, to reflect the needs and concerns of students and faculty, not according to what the government says but according to what the students and faculty say. It is time to avoid any sense of political ideology and prioritize duty above all else. Whether that entails standing firm against the administration in the pursuit of ideals or supporting the needs of these ideals even if they go against what one believes in themselves, a wise leader must be willing to make that sacrifice.
The ship cannot avoid the storm it is in, nor can it go without a captain. The only solution it has is to weather the storm. I hope our new president recognizes his duty, and as long as he does so, he will not be alone.
