OT: Iowa State "voluntaraily" leaving AAU
First AAU school to leave the organization since UNL and Syracuse in 2011.
"Voluntarily" in quotes because I'd guess there was a push here. Not that ISU has ever been a serious B1G expansion candidate, but I suppose this really makes the odds 0.00000%.
Is what it is, agricultural research doesn't matter nearly as much as medical research, at least in the eyes of the elite American academics.
https://www.inside.iastate.edu/article/2022/04/21/aau
Good thing we never hired Matt Campbell, dodged a bullet there!
April 22nd, 2022 at 12:30 PM ^
Never liked him as a potential head coach for Michigan. Got lambasted a few times on this blog for that sentiment because some people like the shiny new things even if they're not good.
He's a glorified Brady Hoke (according to the stats, not just my opinion).
"agricultural research doesn't matter nearly as much as medical research"
So, that sums up Michigan Agricultural College in a nutshell.
my avatar protests!
So they are truly a MAC school.
This is an issue with a multitude of nuances, and not quite as categorically the case as you make out. But to the extent that schools like Nebraska and Iowa State may be devoting the preponderance of resources to conventional corporate factory farm crop yields, maybe. . . At an MIT, say, a lot of people may be looking at food in a quite different way than at Iowa State.
In fairness, MSU is an AAU member in good standing.
If they are leaving the AAU "voluntaraily", then it's probably for the best.
*voluntarily*
*OOOT
Iowa State news? Really?
Plus it’s non-sports farming news, thus the extra OO in OT.
Aren't they in the Big 12....wtf is this? Where are my pants?
This is an odd take. The state of Iowa historically has been strong in public education.
A lot of A2 arrogance looking down their noses at ISU right now.
A lot of A2 arrogance re: ISU, that is sarcastic, right? You can't be for real??? The OP is a PSU fan and like 5 people have commented, mainly jokes.
My guess is that 99.999% of the folks in A2 have no idea this has happened and 99.999999% wouldn't care if they did know.
While there may or may not be some "A2 Arrogance" involved in the OP, the quote from the second paragraph of the article, written by ISU states:
"While the university's core values have not changed since joining the association in 1958, the indicators used by AAU to rank its members have begun to favor institutions with medical schools and associated medical research funding."
That's part of what screwed over Nebraska. The University of Nebraska has a medical school, but it's in Omaha and organized under a separate administrative structure so UNL couldn't count its research stats in its own totals.
UNL didn't voluntarily leave. They were kicked out (and unjustly so, IMHO). They were encouraged to leave voluntarily, but unlike Syracuse, they fought it and lost.
They were kicked out (and unjustly so, IMHO).
Agree 100%. I think the emphasis by the reigning AAU powers on on-campus medical facilities and research $$ to the exclusion of everything else is incredibly shortsighted, and is frankly arrogant as hell to boot. While medical research is obviously tremendously important for all kinds of reasons, so is agriculture—we all have to eat, and the challenges to agriculture in an era of climate change are going to be particularly difficult to deal with.
My mother grew up on a small, hardscrabble Missouri farm during the Depression, and consequently I've always had a great respect for those who coax edible stuff out of the ground and out of the barn and chicken coop. I believe there are aspects and practices of modern agriculture that should be modified or changed, but it's not an easy way to make a living, especially for small-scale independent farmers.
The focus on giant medical centers with huge research budgets is also irritating because Iowa State as an institution has specifically focused on keeping tuition affordable, and one of the ways it's done that is by purposefully controlling the ridiculous bloat in non-instructional staff that afflicts institutions like Michigan.
April 21st, 2022 at 11:26 PM ^
This is all new to me, but what you're saying makes a lot of sense to me.
It also seems that if we get better at the agriculture thing, maybe we went need as much of the medical thing.
Christ you’re old Don. You’re parents seem to be as old as mine.
If you’re grandfather was born prior to mine you win a cookie
My paternal grandfather was born in 1884 in Tecumseh, MI. He attended Michigan from 1901 to 1904, and this photo is in his photo album he compiled during his years in A2.
He later got his masters in physics from U-M in 1910.
HAHA! My paternal grandfather was born in 1878 and finished at the M dental school in 1902.
AFAIK, he wasn't interest in sports in any way. Must have been more popular with the youngun's like your grandfather.
My grandpa was a football fan, but from what I can tell he wasn't remotely athletic himself.
My dad's ancestors moved from New York state to farmland they purchased in Augusta township in 1834 and the farm was in the family at least until 1959. I got to A2 in 1971 and never left, so my dad's family line has had residence in Washtenaw County for 176 of the past 188 years. My great-grandfather was at one time an owner and publisher of one of A2's newspapers.
April 22nd, 2022 at 10:49 AM ^
Did your granddad practice dentistry in MI after college?
April 22nd, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
possible, but I think he moved back to NYS to practice: at least by 1926 when my father was born.
This explains why the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign opened a medical school and a cancer center a few years ago. Even though the medical complex at the University of Illinois Chicago is huge. Ironically for Syracuse University, there is a big-and-getting-bigger hospital complex on campus. But the teaching hospital there is part of the SUNY system.
Am I an asshole or is this beyond OT? Who gives a fuck about Iowa State leaving the AAU in our fanbase?
This news eliminates ISU as a member of the Big Ten for the future expansion/melding of leagues when the NCAA burns to the ground
Is this any more OT than whatever the fuck you're drinking on Friday night? Have you complained about that recently?
I'll be pouring one out for my ISU comrades tomorrow night, you can be sure.
Hmmmmm, let me crack a beer whilst I contemplate that question.
April 21st, 2022 at 11:27 PM ^
I mean, both can be true, right?
Hi, popping in to add something to the mix: ISU is right in the middle of a systematic gutting of a number of academic programs, mostly in the humanities, including some of its cornerstone departments. It will be ending its history graduate program, which produced some of the best scholarship on the history of agriculture. History has 21 faculty members. The cuts are projected to cut them down to 8, which is not tenable for a major state university. ISU has been getting heavy criticism for this, but they seem intent on "reimagining" the institution, to detrimental effect. It's not a great scene right now in Ames.
For more context, see here.
Kim Reynolds is pulling a Scott Walker.
To play devil's advocate, does EVERY college in America need a history department? The article you cited noted dwindling enrollment numbers and higher operating costs.
That's a weighty "yes" from me.
(And I have engineering and science degrees)
April 21st, 2022 at 10:08 PM ^
Like I tell people, you have no idea where you are going if you don't know where you have been.
Yes, history is crucial, far more so than I think many realize.
I was a history major. I'm not questioning if Americans (and the world) need to have higher education in history. I'm questioning if it's necessary to have a history department at every single college in this country. I doubt it's a requirement to take a history class at Iowa State regardless of major.
I'll Devil's Advocate right back at you: You know who has one of the best history departments in the country? That bastion of the humanities MIT. History is one cornerstone of the humanities, and is essential to any major state university's mission to provide students with a well-rounded and widely-applicable education.
So, yes, a university like Iowa State should have a robust history program. Instead, they're taking a literal algorithm to their department budgets to figure out what human beings don't need to be there anymore.
April 21st, 2022 at 11:23 PM ^
Yes. Here's one recent example. From the Department Chair of the History Department at LSU.
So because Russia invaded Ukraine, EVERY school in America needs a dedicated history department focused on every place in the world?
There are plenty of experts on Russia / Ukraine and every part of the world in this country. They just don't happen to be at LSU.
April 22nd, 2022 at 12:44 PM ^
The issue here, IIRC from the follow-up to that tweet (which isn't screenshotted here), was that LSU used to have a Russia/East European specialist, but their position was cut. The person was asking for a scholar they didn't value enough to keep.
EDIT: The thread:
https://twitter.com/ChristineKooi/status/1497593180648259585
They're getting a Russianist for 2022-23.
Ugh. So much for my defense of ISU's efforts to keep college affordable.
April 21st, 2022 at 10:36 PM ^
I thought I was going to read how they are leaving Amateur Athletic Union for Gus Macker. darn it
.
April 21st, 2022 at 11:30 PM ^
No, they're joining the Big 3.
I do get ISU's annoyance with the fact that their lack of a medical school is hurting them in the eyes of the AAU and so they don't want to keep playing that game. Medical schools are really expensive to run and while they can generate a ton of money for a college it may not be worth it given demographic and structural concerns of the school.