Des Moines Register
09-17-07
Regents to debate campus safety, building naming
The board will review the call to arm police at the universities and the policy on
linking donations to how facilities are named.
By ERIN JORDAN
REGISTER IOWA CITY BUREAU
The Iowa Board of Regents will tackle two big issues at its meeting in Council
Bluffs this week: arming campus police and a review of the policy on corporate
names for university buildings and programs.
Public safety directors say guns would help police better protect their campuses,
and the three university presidents have recommended the change. The issue of
campus security has come to the foreground since the April 16 shooting spree at
Virginia Tech University.
The regents have different views about whether to arm campus police.
"I'm heavily influenced by the unanimity of the recommendations of the three
university presidents," said Regent Jack Evans of Cedar Rapids.
Regent Rose Vasquez of Des Moines said Iowa's public universities have a
positive distinction of being among only a handful of universities in the country
whose police don't carry guns. "My preference is not to arm," she said.
The regents will also discuss possible changes for its system-wide policy on
naming university buildings and programs. The review comes in the wake of a
controversy that erupted in July after the University of Iowa considered renaming
its College of Public Health after Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield in
exchange for a $15 million gift.
The regents' docket, released online Friday, listed four possible options for the
naming policy:
- Making no change to the policy, which allows corporate names.
- Beefing up the policy to add required contribution levels for naming gifts and
more scrutiny of the gifts, including potential conflicts of interest.
- Excluding corporate names from colleges or other major academic units or
facilities. This would not bar naming gifts from foundations that have the same
name as corporations.
- Creating separate policies for the naming of colleges and academic units and
for the naming of buildings or wings.
The regents' discussion on corporate naming won't be the last word on the
subject. Suggestions discussed next week could become part of a proposed
policy to appear at the regents' October meeting.
Universities across the country are increasingly dealing with how corporate gifts
fit in the academic environment.
The University of Oklahoma recently named its School of Geology and
Geophysics after ConocoPhillips gave a $6 million gift.
Other colleges have sworn off corporate names - at least for now.
The Board of Regents for the University of Texas, which has 15 campuses,
decided last year to prohibit corporate names for academic buildings, schools
and colleges because of perceived conflict of interest and corporate influence
over the programs, said Randa Safady, vice chancellor for external relations for
the Texas system.
"Corporate namings on buildings, colleges and schools would not be widely
embraced by faculty, staff, and alumni," Safady said in an e-mail to The Des
Moines Register.