By the Advocates for Social Justice The first of seven demands announced on June 6 by the Advocates for Social Justice (ASJ) called for the creation of a Citizen Review Board (CRB) in Cedar Rapids. Following the city’s decision to end meetings with ASJ, the group’s internal CRB research team began meeting with leading experts […]
Letters
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Letter to the editor: The Old Creamery Theatre board’s silence on Black Lives Matter has become deafening
By Marcia Hughes, Cedar Rapids I take tremendous pride in supporting the shared cultural fabric of our Corridor communities — as a patron, performer, volunteer and donor. The recent succession of events at the Old Creamery Theatre Company, then, was especially disturbing. The thoughtful Black Lives Matter support statement developed by the OCTC creative staff […]
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Letter to the editor: Saving the soul of Old Creamery Theatre
By Patrick Du Laney, Iowa City On July 2, most of the Old Creamery artistic staff, including interim artistic directors Katie Colletta and Keegan Christopher, were suddenly and without warning fired from their jobs. The official reason given was COVID. I am concerned that COVID is being used as a cover for something more troubling. […]
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Letter to the editor: The UI Nonfiction Writing Program responds to Black students’ demands for change
Dear Students, We are deeply grateful for this letter. Thank you for all the painful labor and thought that has gone into it, and for giving us the opportunity to make amends and to change. We want to acknowledge that as a program we have failed and harmed Black students, and you are right to […]
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Letter to the editor: Coach Ferentz, wear a mask in public
By Kent Williams, Iowa City Kirk Ferentz is one of the most famous people in Iowa. He’s also the highest paid employee of the State of Iowa. The University of Iowa Hawkeye football team is a state-wide obsession followed by hundreds of thousands of fans. For those of us in Iowa City, he is also […]
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Letter to the editor: One year later, strikers demand an update on the ICCSD Climate Resolution
By the Iowa City Student Climate Strikers Dear School Board Members, Researchers announced today that the last year — July 2019 to June 2020 — has been the hottest year on record, as heat waves and flooding rage across the globe. As Yale University wrote recently, “COVID-19 is the quiz, climate change is the final […]
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Op-ed: Yes, there is a housing crisis in Iowa City, and it includes downtown
By Nicholas Theisen, Iowa City On June 16 of this year, the Iowa City Council passed a 17-point resolution “addressing the Black Lives Matter Movement and Systemic Racism,” to much fanfare. Buried within the rather chaotic discussion that produced this document was a back and forth concerning the Iowa Freedom Riders’ demands with regard to […]
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Letter to the editor: The Mill was an Iowa City institution. Maybe that was the problem.
By Chris Wiersema, Iowa City The Mill is an important and sadly repeated lesson in Iowa City “institutions.” There have been beautiful, heart-rendering remembrances. There have been wails of mournful surprise. There have been valiant proclamations of forthcoming financial heroics that shall save the day. The Mill has died its second and possibly final death. […]
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Letter to the editor: TAs are not disposable
By Caleb Klipowicz, Iowa City The current plan to re-open the University of Iowa for the fall semester disproportionately puts graduate workers in harm’s way. Instead of canceling classes or continuing online-only instruction, the U of I announced that classes of fewer than 50 students will be held in-person. The move, which includes discussion sections […]
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Letter to the editor, from UI professors: COVID-19 budget cuts are leaving faculty — and education — out to dry
By Lois K. Cox, Clinical Professor of Law Emerita; Ann Rhodes, Clinical Professor of Nursing; and Katherine Tachau, Professor of History Emerita, on behalf of the Executive Committee of the University of Iowa chapter of the American Association of University Professors The University of Iowa’s response to pandemic-related budget cuts places the fiscal tail in […]
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Open letter to the Cedar Rapids City Council: Support the seven social justice demands
By Chad Cooper, Cedar Rapids In the aftermath of the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, we’ve seen back-to-back weekends of protests in Cedar Rapids, numbering up to 2,000+ people. These protests have united individuals across the city around a common goal to bring about monumental change. The group that organized the protests — […]
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Letter to the editor: It’s time for Iowa City to live up to its reputation, and embrace anti-racism
By Dan Boscaljon, Iowa City I have learned more about Iowa City in the past two weeks than the two decades prior to this. I bought the myth of Iowa City as a progressive town. I would watch and sometimes participate in protests where liberal choirs preach liberal sermons, sometimes vehemently, and then everyone goes […]
