Letter to the Editor | Thoughts of a past coach
September 20, 2020
In the summer of 1975 I was hired by Bump Elliott and the new swim coach Glen Patton as the head diving coach at the University of Iowa. Little did I know that I would be retiring after 37 years in Iowa City. In five years we took a program that was 10th in the conference for many years to stopp...
Letter to the Editor | When they go low we go Hai Huyhn
September 20, 2020
Dear Coralville Residents, Representing some of the beautiful diversity within the Latinx community, Paola and Cristina, have the honor of working with Hai Huyhn and supporting her candidacy for the Coralville City Council seat. We have seen Hai serve the Coralville community with such tenacity and wo...
Letter to the Editor | Help housing to help families
September 10, 2020
As our economy battles back from the coronavirus-induced recession, housing has experienced the strongest rebound among individual economic sectors. From nearly the beginning of the pandemic, residential construction was deemed essential, ensuring residents had a safe place to shelter. With mortg...
Letter to the Editor | Our children were attacked
September 8, 2020
Our Iowa City Police Department and our Iowa State Patrol attacked our kids with terrifying weapons. There is no other conclusion when watching the released bodycam footage from the night of June 3, when Black Lives Matter protesters attempted to enter Interstate 80. Officers were there in su...
Letter to the Editor | Hypocrisy must know no bounds!
August 27, 2020
I just read the open letter from Bruce Harreld to the Iowa City community and it's definitely a funny read! You seriously think this governor's "proclamations" mean anything coming from a governor who would not even issue shelter-in-place nor mandatory mask requirements in line with any CDC r...
Letter to the Editor | Support for ICCSD
August 15, 2020
The Johnson County Democrat Central Committee supports efforts by the Iowa City Community School District to exercise local control in setting the best path for the new school year. Local leaders made decisions based on science and medical knowledge. They were elected to make decisions for...
Letter to the Editor | Opening schools is a mistake
August 2, 2020
Taking the lead from President Trump, Gov. Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg recently overruled local school officials and ordered Iowa kids and teachers back to in-person school in four weeks. Their decision upends weeks of planning and preparation by local school boards, superintendents, teach...
Letter to the Editor | A dangerous new gun law
July 19, 2020
On July 7, the Iowa City City Council repealed an ordinance, passed in 2011, which prohibited guns in city buildings and on city buses. Council members took this action with outspoken frustration, viewing the action as necessary to comply with HF 2502, a new law enacted by the Republican Legislature this ...
Letter to the Editor | International students should not have to choose between their health and their education
July 12, 2020
On Monday, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) announced new guidelines that would prohibit international students from taking their college courses exclusively online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Failure to follow this guidance would mean students face immediate deportation from the U...
Letter to the Editor | The UI budget has gone to the dogs
July 2, 2020
The University of Iowa’s response to pandemic-related budget cuts places the fiscal tail in charge of wagging the educational dog. Though cuts are necessary, university administrators seem determined to make them without regard to the quality of the overall educational program; some are in direc...
Letter to the Editor | Reinstate Dr. Heckner
June 28, 2020
I understand the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the University of Iowa. However, I am shocked and distraught by the way the university handled the firing of some its lecturers, especially those that I believe are essential to providing education regarding the Holocaust, genoc...
Letter to the Editor: Mapping diversity of autism key to understanding
May 26, 2020
As the Iowa principal investigator for SPARK, UI associate professor of psychiatry, and board member of the Autism Society of Iowa, I have had a front row seat to the community response as we have conducted this study of autism in Iowa over the past three years. Thousands of Iowans have joined hundreds of tho...