Promote state, not competition

Recent editorials in the Iowa City Press-Citizen, Des Moines Register and other newspapers across our state represent a cohesive response to a misguided budget plan and statements by the state Board of Regents and its president, Bruce Rastetter.

As former presidents of the University of Iowa Graduate and Professional Student Government and proud Iowa alumni, we are worried deeply about the board's recent proposal. It threatens to diminish enormous benefits that the UI provides to the state: From its $6 billion annual contribution to Iowa's economy, to the more than $400 million in research funds that pour into the university every year, the UI has a substantial impact across the state on multiple levels.

This debate is not simply a matter of in-state undergraduate education. We believe the Board of Regents continues to demonstrate shortsightedness regarding the impact of graduate and professional student education at the UI. Our university educates the vast majority of all graduate and professional students who decide to stay in Iowa after graduation.

The UI also attracts students from across the world who contribute to the state in numerous ways. While in school, our graduate and professional students serve communities across the state. For example, our Urban Regional and Planning students have helped cities revamp their infrastructure. Medical, dental and pharmacy students serve Iowans in every corner of the state by providing free health care via local outreach clinics. Our students then graduate to become the next generation of lawyers, doctors, dentists, teachers and more in every community across Iowa.

The board's new funding model will threaten our students' ability to educationally contribute care and services across the state.

Each of our public universities has a unique identity and mission. Iowa cannot tolerate a board and its president who fail to understand these unique differences and the important contribution of our graduate and professional students to the state. The recently approved budgetary model will decrease the UI's general fund appropriation by nearly $60 million each year and impact graduate and professional education at the UI. We urge Rastetter and the board to focus on working with the state Legislature to establish incentives to keep young UI professionals in the state rather than provoking competition for quantity rather than quality in undergraduate and graduate education.

Instead of forcing our universities to compete against one another for state funds on a 'per-person” basis, we encourage the board and our state leaders to work diligently to find ways to keep our young graduate and professional students in the state and ensure that each public institution is maximizing its unique contribution and impact on the state of Iowa. And certainly recruiting young, talented, and bright individuals from across the country and around the world should be a contribution worth recognizing and celebrating.

l Michael T. Appel, University of Iowa Graduate and Professional Student Government president, 2012-13, and Lyndsay A. Harshman, GPSG president, 2010-11. Comments: michaeltappel@gmail.com or lyndsay-harshman@uiowa.edu