Alcohol safety advocates disagree on UI's Busch contract: DI Reader, July 12

Alcohol safety advocates disagree on UI’s Busch contract

Alcohol safety advocates discussed the University of Iowa’s renewed contract with Anheuser-Busch for the first time as a group Wednesday, and many voiced concerns about how the Hawkeye community is interpreting the message. The contract allows the Tigerhawk logo to share space on products with Anheuser-Busch logos along with the phrase “Responsibility Matters.”

Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said she thinks having a UI symbol placed next to an alcoholic beverage symbol will send the wrong message.

“I think it’s a really bad idea,” she said. “It looks like the University of Iowa is promoting it.”

Lyness, who has a 14-year-old daughter, said she had concerns about high school-aged kids seeing a banner while shopping at local stores.

 The UI renewed their contract with the company in June. Since the renewal there has been controversial questions about whether or not the partnership contradicts the university’s “Responsibility Matters” campaign.

The contract is between Anehuser-Busch and Learfield Communications Inc.,  the sports-marketing company hired to represent the Hawkeye Athletics Department.

Learfield will pay the Athletics Department $114 million through 2026. Anheuser-Busch officials will provide $43,000 for the UI’s alcohol-harm-reduction plan in its first year.

Read more here.

Bar owners: training decreases sales to intoxicated persons

Bar owners say the implementation of the Iowa Program for Alcohol Compliance Training earlier this year helps servers decipher when patrons shouldn’t be sold another alcoholic drink due to intoxication.

On Wednesday, University of Iowa and Iowa City’s joint Partnership for Alcohol Safety discussed a law regarding selling alcohol to intoxicated persons. But many local bar owners say there’s no real way to completely prevent selling to intoxicated patrons.

It is against state law for someone to continue to serve alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated person or one who simulates intoxication. Members of the coalition agreed the law has many gray areas because of the drinking culture in Iowa City.

George Etre, owner of Takanami and Formosa said there are establishments downtown with multiple bars and multiple bartenders working as well as numerous waiters and waitresses serving drinks at the same time.

“They have [roughly] 35 different people where you can get alcohol from,” he said. “It’s tough to remember whose coming up and what they look like.”

Read more here.

UI student biking across America for disability awareness

Journey of Hope, an annual cycling trek across America, has raised more than $650,000 this year for people with disabilities. The team stopped at the University of Iowa — the school of one team member — Wednesday to raise awareness and meet the community.

Billy Baker, a UI senior majoring in business management and finance, said he is cycling for Journey of Hope because people with mental and physical disabilities are often ignored in society.

“The biggest reason why I do this is to help people who are normally put to the side,” he said. “Not many people choose to work with people with disabilities.”

Baker said the individuals with disabilities the team has met were all excited to spend time with the squad.

“Sometimes, just spending five minutes with them getting to know them makes their day,” he said. 

The team started in San Francisco on June 3, and the members plan to finish in Washington, D.C. Aug. 5. The journey is part of Pi Kappa Phi’s philanthropy project Push America, bringing fraternity brothers and individuals with disabilities together.

Read more here.

UI Admissions streamlines process for first-year applicants

High-school seniors applying to the University of Iowa will now know within 48 hours if they’ve been selected to join the Hawkeye community.

Officials in the UI Admissions Office announced Tuesday their plans to streamline the admissions process by having first-year/freshman applicants self-report their high-school course work, test scores, grade-point averages, and class ranks when they apply for admission. Students will receive an admissions decision within two business days of applying.

“We’re really excited about it,” said Michael Barron, the assistant provost for UI Admissions. “What happens after admissions, the more information students have about the real opportunities that exist, the better their decision will be for where to go, and we certainly think that will be helpful to us.”

The new application can be found online in mid-August.

Barron said UI officials aren’t concerned about applicants being dishonest with self-reporting their academic information.

“We certainly considered that factor,” he said. “What we’ve learned is two things: Students are fundamentally honest, and especially so if you let them know that there are quick and swift consequences if it turns out their answers weren’t [accurate].”

Read more here.

Iowa’s Taylor and Johnson heal in Game Time

Coming back from injuries might just be the toughest things athletes face in their careers. Most players encounter this once or twice during their playing days.

But rehabbing has become a routine for Iowa women’s basketball senior center Morgan Johnson and redshirt junior guard Theairra Taylor.

The duo, both on head coach Randy Larson’s team, is battling through their various afflictions in the Game Time League this summer, and the Hawkeyes are hoping to be at full strength when their season opens in the fall.

“I’m still trying to get the rust off,” Taylor said. “You can shoot in the gym by yourself, but there is nothing like being out there in game action.”

Taylor tore an ACL for the third time last season, which cost her playing time and caused her to drop in June’s Game Time draft. She also underwent a scope procedure recently to remove scar tissue from her leg.

“I had a cyst removed about eight weeks ago,” Taylor said. “My minutes in the league have been so-so because of it, but now the minutes are starting to pick up.”

Read more here.

Editorial: Agrisol profits don’t make the company at fault

There has been an ongoing theme lately that the rich man is the bad guy. The profits are at the expense of the weak, and there is no such thing as ethical business. 

However, not all businesses are cruel, and not all profits mean greed. When companies come in, some people really do get hired, and if that business is profitable, more people can get hired.

One business in particular under fire for claims of profiteering and corruption is Iowa’s own AgriSol Energy LLC.

In Tanzania, AgriSol Energy LLC landed a deal in which the inputs are cheap, and the product, food, will be sold at an international market price that will yield immense profits.

Given that information, many have raised their red flags, and have begun a deeper investigation. However, the information revealed in the Oakland Institute investigation, as well as the public documents provided by AgriSol Energy, our conclusion is that AgriSol is not a corrupt company victimizing the people of Tanzania; rather, it is a company with valuable goals that will help not only the nation of Tanzania but neighboring nations as well.

Read more here.

80 Hours: Young Iowan, Chinese writers connect through literature

A group of young writers traveled to China recently to discuss literature with their international counterparts. 

“Our goal really is to help Americans know more about international literature and help international writers know more about America,” said Nate Brown, the publicity coordinator at International Writing Program. “It’s really as simple as that.” 

Brown led four young American writers to Beijing and Shanghai to meet with four young Chinese writers from June 27 through July 7 to talk about literature from different perspectives. 

Life of Discovery is the name of the exchange program, which the IWP hosts, that aims to bring together writers and from the United States and from China, allowing them to talk about literature face to face. 

This fall, the same four Chinese writers will be brought to the States to continue discussing literature.

Read more here.