This academic year has seen a lot of discussion and debate between those who believe the university should be run as a business and those who believe the university's primary job is to respond to students' needs. The two beliefs are not as conflicting as they might first appear. The better business is the one that recognizes whom its customer base is and wants to please it. The better university is the one that provides the best professors, facilities and research opportunities, which often means looking for outside sources of funding.
Conflict arises when either side is unwilling to see the benefits of the other.
A university that is trying to run itself as a business fails when it does not recognize that students are its customer base. A university that is trying to run itself solely on the whims of the student body fails when it does not acknowledge that a university needs to be financially secure in order to provide the resources that will best serve students in the long run. It would be an understatement to say that these two theories were in conflict this year. It started with the Iowa State Memorial Union's desire to place a McDonald's in the Hub. I preferred to target Union Director Mary Jo Mertens for sidestepping student involvement and going outside of the established request for proposals process.