Iowa State concludes its AAU membership

[psychlones]

Did I miss discussion about this topic? If so, feel free to combine it with an existing thread.

Iowa State concludes its AAU membership - Inside Iowa State

www.inside.iastate.edu

 

[cygrads]

So after reading the link is it just more difficult to maintain membership because most of the research dollars are going to medical schools?

 

[psychlones]

So after reading the link is it just more difficult to maintain membership because most of the research dollars are going to medical schools?

I'm definitely not well-informed enough to provide much insight to this topic, but the article makes it seem like they think the benefits aren't worth the membership? I'd love to hear some feedback from others who actually know more about this topic.

 

[WooBadger18]

I'm definitely not well-informed enough to provide much insight to this topic, but the article makes it seem like they think the benefits aren't worth the membership? I'd love to hear some feedback from others who actually know more about this topic.

There was a much larger thread about this (maybe a week ago) in the cave.

On your point about the benefits, I think the consensus was that Iowa State’s statement was mostly spin and that Iowa State left before they could be kicked out

 

[Urbandale2013]

There was a much larger thread about this (maybe a week ago) in the cave.

On your point about the benefits, I think the consensus was that Iowa State’s statement was mostly spin and that Iowa State left before they could be kicked out

I’d clarify that while what you said was true and this is extremely disappointing the mission of the AAU has changed and we really just don’t fit with what they are trying to do.

 

[Klubber]

There was a much larger thread about this (maybe a week ago) in the cave.

On your point about the benefits, I think the consensus was that Iowa State’s statement was mostly spin and that Iowa State left before they could be kicked out

I don't think that was necessarily the consensus in the thread. It was just the POV of the most vocal posters in the thread, who were then responsible for it going to the cave because of their "sky is falling rants".

I don't think it's much of a big deal at all. JMHO...

 

[WooBadger18]

I’d clarify that while what you said was true and this is extremely disappointing the mission of the AAU has changed and we really just don’t fit with what they are trying to do.

I think that’s somewhat going to be an agree to disagree. It has changed somewhat. That being said, institutions similar to Iowa state (like Purdue) are still members

 

[WooBadger18]

I don't think that was necessarily the consensus in the thread. It was just the POV of the most vocal posters in the thread, who were then responsible for it going to the cave because of their "sky is falling rants".

I don't think it's much of a big deal at all. JMHO...

It should have been in the cave from the beginning (and it should be noted that a separate post was in the cave before the mods decided to merge them). Some topics are just political and that’s fine. This was going to be one of them. Therefore, it made completely sense to have it in the cave.

Edit: also, do you think Iowa State would have remained in the AAU long term if they hadn’t left? Because whether it made sense for them to remain in the AAU (or even that it is a good thing that they left) is entirely different from whether they would have been kicked out

 

[HFCS]

I'm definitely not well-informed enough to provide much insight to this topic, but the article makes it seem like they think the benefits aren't worth the membership? I'd love to hear some feedback from others who actually know more about this topic.

I look at those 64 schools and can't imagine the vast majority of them face the budget cut challenges ISU has over the past few decades. I also doubt most of them have strong local movements trying to end professor tenure systems or force faculty to take political loyalty tests/oaths.

The overall ranking of the university continues to slip across a broad spectrum of rankings and metrics. None of the metrics/rankings are perfect (some are highly questionable) but looking at them combined paints a broad picture. If things were improving the university would be holding even or improving in some academic metric.

This podcast that has done several episodes on the US News and World Report rankings, it's almost an impossible thing to rank and very flawed. But you'd think ISU would be holding even or improving in some metric vs rest of country or world if it weren't slipping.

Lord of the Rankings

Podcast Episode · Revisionist History · S6 E2 · 32m

podcasts.apple.com

 

[HFCS]

I don't think that was necessarily the consensus in the thread. It was just the POV of the most vocal posters in the thread, who were then responsible for it going to the cave because of their "sky is falling rants".

I don't think it's much of a big deal at all. JMHO...

Can you link me some other metrics or rankings that show ISU's academic profile improving or holding even over the past few decades? This event isn't an isolated thing.

I hope you can show me some links and that my perception is wrong.

 

[ISUTex]

Did I miss discussion about this topic? If so, feel free to combine it with an existing thread.

Iowa State concludes its AAU membership - Inside Iowa State

www.inside.iastate.edu

I honestly don't understand the "sky is falling" attitude from a lot of posters about this. Who cares? How many people go to Iowa State for medical school?

 

[Urbandale2013]

I think that’s somewhat going to be an agree to disagree. It has changed somewhat. That being said, institutions similar to Iowa state (like Purdue) are still members

Purdue has a medical school. We just don’t have the size and money to be what those schools are.

Iowa State is being hurt by budget cuts and stuff but most of the college ranking stuff is academic chest pumping rather than real distinction in quality.

 

[Rabbuk]

I honestly don't understand the "sky is falling" attitude from a lot of posters about this. Who cares? How many people go to Iowa State for medical school?

An article from isu about isu deteriorating is going to be framed in the rosiest picture

 

[Trice]

I honestly don't understand the "sky is falling" attitude from a lot of posters about this. Who cares? How many people go to Iowa State for medical school?

Sigh. The sky isn't falling and nobody said it was. But ISU was in a prestigious group, and now it's not, and almost certainly not by its own choice. Spin it any way you like, but as recently as a few weeks ago, membership was held up as a huge positive for the institution.

It's a clear sign of disinvestment and decline in the university. The sky is not falling but it will hurt the university over time, and in ways the public won't be in a position to appreciate.

 

[Lewey24]

I honestly don't understand the "sky is falling" attitude from a lot of posters about this. Who cares? How many people go to Iowa State for medical school?

I don’t think the real problem is leaving the AAU. Does is suck that they left? Yes. But this is more of a bellwether for how the university has slowly been slipping in the rankings and metrics over the years.

 

[BCClone]

I don’t think the real problem is leaving the AAU. Does is suck that they left? Yes. But this is more of a bellwether for how the university has slowly been slipping in the rankings and metrics over the years.

So…….was Geoffrey good or not then?

 

[HFCS]

I don’t think the real problem is leaving the AAU. Does is suck that they left? Yes. But this is more of a bellwether for how the university has slowly been slipping in the rankings and metrics over the years.

This. An individual metric and status like this can be dismissed but they can't be ignored as a very clear big picture.

Did I chose ISU in the 90s because it had AAU status? No.

Did I research ISU's general academic reputation, rankings and standing vs the rest of the country as a high school senior? Yes I did.

Do I like the fact that the school where I got my degree loses ground compared to the rest of the country and world every year? No, not at all.

At least at this point in my career my portfolio and resume are 99% of what matters. Coming out of school and hitting the job market is really the main time when that reputation of your degree matters, maybe a little networking if you live among a ton of alumni. Living and working near a lot of inherited massive generational wealth the past 7 years has opened my eyes a bit that even among those highly ranked AAU schools there's kind of an "old boys club" line where the Ivy and similar open doors that degrees like Michigan St, Iowa, Purdue, KU etc do not.

 

[drmwevr08]

This doesn't hurt us oldsters but it can't help going forward. I would agree with those pointing out that its not the only place where we've lost ground. Keep in mind that even in the athletic realignment talk, that was something many thought mattered and why we held ourselves above other schools.
Its not good.

 

[theshadow]

Did I miss discussion about this topic? If so, feel free to combine it with an existing thread.

Iowa State concludes its AAU membership - Inside Iowa State

www.inside.iastate.edu

We had at least 4 threads on it, which got either merged, locked, or thrown back into the cave.

 

[Dr.bannedman]

its turning into a community college