Guest Opinion | COGS calls on university and state to better protect students this fall
July 29, 2020
As of this week, there are over 130,000 confirmed deaths in the U.S. due to COVID-19. Cases are on the rise across the nation as well as in Iowa specifically. Johnson County has made national news because the overwhelming majority of new cases have been among people under the age of 40. Presid...
Guest Opinion | The state of Iowa must implement diploma privilege for graduate law students
July 22, 2020
How would you feel if someone told you that in less than two weeks you had to go sit in a room with two hundred other people? Not two hundred people from your town; two hundred people from all over the state and other states, too. You’d be in the room for approximately eight hours. Two days in a row. T...
Guest Opinion | An open letter to students
July 6, 2020
We’d love to say that we’re eagerly anticipating meeting you this fall, but we have to be honest. We’re scared. We write this on the twelfth consecutive day of new, double-digit COVID-19 cases in Johnson County. We’re scared for our health and yours, and we’re deeply concerned about the d...
Guest Opinion | A fond farewell to The Mill
June 29, 2020
When word broke this week of The Mill closing, it prompted crying emojis in our office’s Slack channel. The Mill has been our 2nd downtown office, with our rent paid exclusively in happy hour pints & fried pickles. My colleagues were understandably bummed. The Mill is an iconic downtown Iowa ...
Guest Opinion | Government workers should not be paid to testify against state accusations
June 25, 2020
Should highly paid state employees such as university faculty be permitted to run lucrative side-businesses as expert defense witnesses in cases prosecuted by Iowa state agencies? Or is the state empowered to deem such testimony a conflict of interest and prohibit its employees from testifying unles...
Guest Opinion | UI English professors call for reinstatement of liberal-arts faculty
June 21, 2020
On a day last week when the entire university community was asked to cease “business as usual” and contemplate solutions to institutional racism, administrators at the University of Iowa had other things on their minds. They were busy terminating the contracts of 15 instructional-track facul...
Guest Opinion | I Can’t Breathe
June 16, 2020
The gas never really got to me. I never needed water or antacid poured into my eyes because of the burns. With it being a powder, it never got on my skin so that I might rub it on my face later and start the process over again. Although I did cough a little, I was not bent over hacking because it go...
Guest Opinion | Department of Anthropology unequivocally condemns police violence and white supremacy
June 11, 2020
We, the members of the Department of Anthropology, stand in unreserved solidarity with Black people of this country as they confront organizations that perpetuate racialized violence and institutionalize White supremacy. We denounce the racial violence enacted by the police, sanctioned by state gover...
Guest Opinion | The University of Iowa must divest from ICPD, the Iowa State Patrol, and CPD
June 9, 2020
To President Harreld and all University of Iowa administrators, My name is Isabella Senno and I am a recent UI graduate. I’m writing today to demand that the UI cease contractual agreements with the Iowa City Police Department, and end its affiliation with the Iowa State Patrol and the Coral...
Guest Opinion: Take time to celebrate your University of Iowa graduation, 2020 Hawkeyes
May 15, 2020
Dear Seniors, The last time I saw any of you, it was March — not even Saint Patrick’s Day. In a lot of ways, it seems like a whole different world. I know this semester has been strange for you. It’s been strange for me, too. I’ve missed interacting with you. I can’t imagine how it m...
Guest Opinion: VOTE411 provides nonpartisan candidate information for June 2 primary
May 6, 2020
VOTE411 provides voters with information about the candidates on the ballot in the June 2 primary election. The League of Women Voters created the election-related website as a one-stop location for nonpartisan information for the public. Each candidate was invited to respond to a set of quest...
Guest Opinion: Proud to support Christina Bohannan for Iowa House
April 29, 2020
I am asking you to vote for Christina Bohannan for Iowa House District 85, to help stop the gun violence that has plagued this country for far too long. What our elected officials should have dealt with long ago has continued to a point where it is no longer shocking to see a headline of another mass ...