Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | fall 2004

FALL 2004
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Cover Story:
Surviving Stroke

Feature:
37 things to do on an ISU football weekend

Feature:
A new tradition

125th Anniversary Celebration:
A letter from Kristi Kielhorn
Excited about Cy

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

An innocent man

My wife, Jane Weeks Young (’50 home ec ed) is the ISU alum [in our household], but she lets me read VISIONS. Like many of your readers, I am exceedingly sympathetic to John Douglas Mullen (“An Innocent Man,” summer 2004) and the terrible situation in which he has been placed as a completely innocent person.

My comments are:
1. I have my own alum mags to read. I don’t ever recall an article such as the one covering John Mullen. Congratulations to VISIONS for doing it.

2. Not stated in the article is the significant and demanding opportunity for ISU alums in the right business areas to come forward to John Mullen ASAP and extend to him an enthusiastic welcome to join their business or enterprise. It’s more than fairness, but fairness is a good place to start. My guess is they would make money or whatever it is they want to make with John Mullen.

-- Jack Young*
Montgomery Village, Maryland

P.S. I won’t indicate my own college, but we enjoy beating Army each year.

I read the story about J.D. Mullen being accused of exposing himself to women in an Ankeny beauty salon. It was disturbing that an innocent man could be accused of such a crime. One thing, however, has left a question in my mind. How did Mullen’s picture end up in a photo lineup in the first place? Not everyone’s picture ends up in a police photo album.

--Vincent R. Gallery**
’56 agriculture
Shafter, California

Editor’s Note: It is our understanding that Mr. Mullen’s photo was obtained through the Iowa Department of Transportation – in other words, his driver’s license photo was used in the photo lineup.

RAGBRAI

Thanks for a great feature on RAGBRAI! Ames is a great town to ride in. I got back into cycling there in the 1980s and miss being able to get out of town any direction fairly easily. I still ride year-round in Des Moines and am working to build a cross-sector coalition to make the metro area more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly.

-- Kent Newman**
’77 distributed studies
Des Moines, Iowa

Giving back

I am finally catching up with my spring 2004 VISIONS magazine. I find the membership statistics listed in the Annual Report very telling. Why is it that the colleges that have money poured into them have such a low membership ratio in the Alumni Association? Business, Design, Vet Med, and Education are high-dollar, large-number colleges within our prestigious institution. Why then such a paucity of return from those more prosperous disciplines? Before all my teaching friends yowl about how they are underpaid, they should try making it in a non-teaching job with a bachelor’s in a liberal arts area like history or psychology. While teachers are certainly underpaid, the rest of the areas listed could certainly afford to give back to the institution. Why aren’t they? Maybe the university and Alumni Association would get more bang for the buck by investing in arts and sciences a little more.

-- Ellyn L. Bartges**
’85 history
Macomb, Illinois

P.S. I realize that membership in the Alumni Association is not tied to the amount of money that may be given in donations through alumni of those
colleges. It would just be nice to see more involvement from the alumni of those portions
of the university.

Alumni Days thank-you

I have been meaning to write and thank [the Alumni Association] for the great day my dad, Loyd Beecher (65-year grad), and I had May 20 at Alumni Days.
You really treated us well.

The concert under the direction of Frank Piersol almost made me cry. I took band under him all four years at Iowa State. I was only an average clarinetist but sure did appreciate him as a director. He was the greatest! I don’t think there is another director in this world who can make a band sound like a band under the direction
of Frank Piersol.

Then, Dad almost cried that night when he received his Gold Medal. It really meant a lot to both of us,
so thank you very much. It was very kind of you to arrange that for all of those 50-year-plus grads who had not previously received their medals. I believe you thought of everything.

One other thing – I was so amazed at all the graduates in attendance. I’m sure some of them were very, very successful in their fields. Yet, they were all just as common and nice as they could be. Typical Iowa State grads, I guess you would say. We were all there to have a good time – and we did, thanks to you and your staff.

Believe me, if I’m around in eight more years, my husband and I will definitely attend my 50th. It’s hard to believe it is only eight years away.

Thanks again.

-- Beth Beecher Feldick**
’62 home economics journalism
Buffalo Center, Iowa

Colleges combining?

I am very sad about the proposal to merge the College of Family and Consumer Sciences with the College of Education. I am a graduate of both colleges. While I understand the necessity to reduce administrative costs, I fear that Iowa State University will lose its worldwide prominence as a leader in family studies.

Iowa State’s home economics program was the first in the nation – in 1871 – to be established at a land-grant university. Today, graduates help families deal with everyday decisions, including family finance and financial security, parenting, intergenerational relationships, proper nutrition, time management, health, food safety, housing and child/youth development. Busy parents, trying to balance work and family, as well as those of us assisting aging parents, are richer for the knowledge and expertise of those skilled in family and consumer sciences. The interdisciplinary way in which the science is taught at Iowa State University helps graduates look at the world in an integrated way.

While this decision appears efficient, is shows a lack of commitment on the part of university administration to provide the important leadership necessary to assist families with the complexities of today’s society.

Iowa State University, the premier land-grant university? I’m afraid not.

-- Jayne Hager Dee**
’71 home economics education,
’95 MS education
Northfield, Minnesota

VEISHEA

In my years at Iowa State (1946-50), I hardly knew any students who were not involved in some VEISHEA activity: departmental displays and presentations, floats, marching groups, athletic events, music, etc.
My three grandchildren and their friends (2003-04) indicated to me that they hardly knew any students involved in VEISHEA. These are all students matriculating and living in Ames. Something to consider:

Of course, the student body is much larger now, but I wonder if this isn’t part of the problem – the percentage of students actually committed to the success of this celebration.

In VISIONS (“Taking a break: No VEISHEA in 2005,” summer 2004), John Primus, ’65, talks about “showcasing ISU’s best and brightest.” That certainly wouldn’t have included me and many of my college friends. But we were dedicated to the VEISHEA institution and the attention and honor this celebration brought to Iowa State.

--Lowell Titus*
’50 civil engineering
Indianola, Iowa

I am a 1999 ISU grad and am currently working in student affairs at the University of Kansas. I am writing with a concern regarding Murray Williams’ letter (summer 2004 VISIONS). In his letter, Murray recounts an ISU tailgate where he noticed a “booze luge.” While I’m sure he meant nothing harmful by putting this in his letter, as a student affairs professional I am concerned about the underlying messages that this conveys to incoming students, parents of incoming students, and current students. He refers to this contraption as “clever” and “ingenious.” Furthermore, he goes on to describe how to make one. To me, this screams loud and clear that you come to ISU tailgates to get drunk. More than anything, I was surprised that the Alumni Association felt that this was appropriate to print, despite the historical problems concerning college students and alcohol abuse.

In the same issue we had to read President Geoffroy’s statement about the suspension of VEISHEA for a year due to issues, no doubt, related to alcohol. To me, it’s important that all aspects of the institution are sending and supporting the same message. I write only out of concern that if this is the message that we are sending to our students, how can we later hold them accountable for their behaviors and not be talking out of both sides
of our mouth?

I enjoy being a member of the Alumni Association and enjoy reading my VISIONS magazine to keep up with ISU news since I’m not in the area. Thanks for any attention you can give to these kinds of issues.

Thank you!

-- Laura Cripple*
’99 sociology
Lawrence, Kansas

Note from ISU Alumni Association President Jeff Johnson: Thank you for this important observation, Laura. You are on point. The Alumni Association regrets that we did not think through the impact of the statement in Mr. Williams’ letter. While he wrote it as an observation, it does play into a reality that we are working hard to alleviate. Again, thanks for sharing your opinion.