By Veronica Tessler
Like many Iowa City locals, I joined in our collective sigh of relief when the bulk of UI’s students left for the summer more than three months ago. I relished the abundant parking spots downtown and weekend nights on the Ped Mall without getting mauled by drunkards or witnessing the drunk leading the drunker.
As a downtown small business owner, I was skeptically excited for the influx of new and returning students. After all, they help sustain my livelihood. Plus, I kind of missed those Chicagoans, or mostly their suburban brethren, and the things sorority girls tweet: tmw u keep adding cookie dough & realize ur froyo’s gonna cost like $20.
But students are more than sources of entertainment or financial gain, and their return brings more than headaches and reasons to stay out of downtown. What if we stopped seeing them as visitors and start viewing them as an asset to our community? And what if they start viewing our downtown streets as the homes to our businesses and not simply places for them to terrorize after dark?
Students represent a community as diverse as our own (and in fact more so, given the sheer number of international students and first generation college students). The beginning of a new academic year brings fantastic programming for the community at-large to enjoy. Let’s be honest, we wouldn’t be a UNESCO World City of Literature or be the site of a whole story arc in Girls without the University. This fall, in particular, we can look forward to the opening of the new Hancher Auditorium and the Voxman Music School, which will add to the existing local venues bringing an array of national and international artists who might typically bypass a city of our size.
With tensions on the rise regarding inclusionary zoning, highrises (shadows?), and even public art, the completely unproductive “us” vs. “them” mentality that’s buzzing in social circles and on Facebook is really getting to me. Truth be told I don’t know how to solve the Iowa City Incivility Crisis of 2016 (anyone want to take that on?), so instead I thought it could be useful to think about how we can work to build bridges with the student community.
We should take note of the Iowa Youth Writing Project is a model of a fruitful collaboration between the University and the community that provides opportunities for students to interact with young community members in order to share their talents and learn from one another. Public Space One is another example of that was borne out of a group of friends at the University that has become a mixed-use community space and home to arts and a range of creative ventures that allows for local talent to shine. Just last week, the Iowa Writers House hosted the new class from UI’s International Writing Program, connecting a local community of writers with a global community of writers and art makers.
It’s not just arts and writing worlds where we’re seeing productive partnerships. The Partnership for Alcohol Safety is a coalition force that brings together all sectors of the community it is meant to serve (the University, safety professionals, the Iowa City Downtown District, the City and local businesses) working toward a common safety goal. In order to better serve our community, the Center for Worker Justice regularly teams up with UI Law School to conduct research on such issues as the community ID program and immigration policies.
Last week’s Taste of Iowa City brought 40 downtown and Northside businesses onto the sidewalks, and close to 4000 students and locals to sample restaurant fare. Wild Bill’s Coffee Shop is a worthy collaboration between the community and the University’s School of Social Work, also the UI Student gardens, and the WRAC. A lot of the clubs were intended for students but their impact is seen throughout the community.
It’s up to both groups to foster the relationships that will help protect and improve our collective home. Let’s welcome those who are new to our beloved town, some of whom are experiencing Iowa Nice for the first time.
As the collective we enter into another school year, let’s keep building this little village into a place we are proud to inhabit.
Veronica Tessler is the founder and proprietor of Yotopia Frozen Yogurt and co-conspirator of Mission: Iowa City. She prefers 90-degree heat and screaming cicadas to damning windchills and clanking heating pipes in her 110-year-old apartment. This article was originally published in Little Village issue 205.
