ISU Enrollment Poised to Top Iowa's: DaiIy Iowan Reader, July 16

Officials: UI values enrollment quality over quantity

While student enrollment at Iowa State University is projected to surpass the University of Iowa this coming academic year for the first time in 33 years, UI officials say they are more concerned about quality rather than quantity.

Michael Barron, the director of UI Admissions, said the university set a goal in 2010 to reach a freshman class of 4,500 students within five years. That goal was met in the first year.

“There was this expectation that we would grow about 100 a year to hit that number over five years,” he said.

Because the university has already met the goal, Barron said, UI officials are not trying to expand class sizes.

“We met our goal a lot faster than we thought,” he said. “Our reaction was to stabilize at that level. That’s where we wanted to get, and we wanted to sustain that number for incoming students in 2011.”

UI spokesman Tom Moore said officials are not concerned about ISU’s growing enrollment because they want to focus on the quality of education now that the desired enrollment rate was achieved.

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Farm to School brings local produce into the classroom

Farm to School officials say they hope bringing local produce and teaching students about where their food comes from will encourage healthy food habits.

The Iowa City School District held its first of two Farmer Fairs July 13, in which students were able to learn about local produce and to plant in-school gardens.

The organizations involved said they hope the children’s exposure to farming and fresh produce will have a lasting effect on the way they view their food and encourage them to make healthy food choices in the long term.

“Research shows that if kids grow their own food and help prepare that food, they are more likely to eat and to try new foods,” said Heather Widmayer, coordinator of Farm to School program. “So the more opportunities we can give them to try this, the more likely they will be to eat healthy throughout their lifetime.”

But getting kids to try new foods was not the main challenge for the organizers of the fair. The real challenge was getting the students to think about where their food comes from and the effort involved in growing it.

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Locals turn out to view peak solar activity

As the summer heat continues, one expert explained that recent solar flares erupting from the Sun are not the culprit behind the ongoing heat wave.

Steven Spangler, a University of Iowa professor of physics/astronomy, held a free lecture this past weekend for Iowa City residents to discuss the Sun’s current position in the solar cycle and dispel any misconceptions about the reason behind the summer heat wave.

“You might think for the last few weeks we are closer to the Sun, but it is the opposite,” Spangler said. “We are actually closest to the Sun in January.”

Residents who wanted to view the Sun through telescopes convened Sunday in the courtyard outside Van Allen Hall after the viewing was pushed back from July 14 because of overcast skies.

A sunspot emitted a solar flare on July 12, which headed straight for Earth, Spangler said, but it wasn’t expected to pose any threat.

“It is hitting us as I speak, actually,” he said on July 14 as people in the crowd gasped.

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Iowa Supreme Court rules in favor of UI in records request lawsuit

The Iowa Supreme Court on July 13 ruled that the University of Iowa is not obligated to turn over student records to the Iowa City Press-Citizen related to a 2007 sexual-assault investigation.

The court ruled 4-3 that the university does not need to hand over student records to the newspaper, after the UI had been forced to hand over hundreds of other documents following the lawsuit.

UI spokesman Tom Moore said university officials are satisfied with the decision.

“We are pleased that the Supreme Court agreed with our position regarding the importance of protecting the privacy of our students,” he said on Sunday evening.

The Press-Citizen filed an open-records request following an investigation into the sexual assault of a female student athlete by two then-Hawkeye football players in 2007, requesting sexual-assault reports and correspondence or documents related to any such incidents.

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Local writers celebrate Hamburg Inn as food for literary thought

Hamburg Inn’s hot coffee and greasy burgers are both a down-home comfort food and an international sensation.  But they don’t just inspire speeches by presidents from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama or conjure healthy appetites in locals and newcomers alike — the Hamburg Inn also sparks unparalleled creativity.

That’s the concept behind the 2011 book The Burg: A Writers’ Diner by Marybeth Slonneger, a former waitress at “the Burg” and author of several other books chronicling Iowa City’s history. Several local contributing authors, including owner Dave Panther and internationally best-selling nonfiction writer Hope Edelman, read excerpts from the book at the Historical Society on July 15 as part of the Iowa City Book Festival, and discussed the diner’s offerings of food for thought - not just a great meal.

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Gesell, Basabe, Cole team up in Prime Time

An incoming Iowa freshman. A Hawkeye junior-to-be. A former Black and Gold player.

The trio of Mike Gesell, Melsahn Basabe, and Jarryd Cole combined for 66 points as Jill Armstrong of Skogman Realty pulled out a 103-96 Prime Time League win over Culver’s/Ready Mix on Sunday.

“I was just playing my game,” Cole said. “Making sure that I’m available for my team, and when I get the ball, making sure I do something positive.”

Cole finished the game with a team-high 24 points, going 8-of-16, and he snared 8 rebounds.

Cole has been coach Dan Ahrens’ most dominant and reliable player this summer, consistently scoring more than 20 points a game. He’s one of the older players in the league — a 2011 Iowa grad — and he is able to establish himself in the paint and play a different role from the one he had during his tenure with the Hawkeyes.

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Guest Column: City Council ignoring residents

At its July 10 meeting, the Iowa City City Council confirmed its commitment to lending developer Marc Moen $2.5 million in TIF money to help him construct his newest project: a 14-story mixed-use building downtown.

The councilors did this despite being presented with a petition signed by 862 residents of Iowa City asking that this decision be made the subject of a special election.

A dedicated group of people have worked hard for the past couple of months collecting signatures and educating the public about this issue. They reason that the people of Iowa City should be given a chance to voice their opinions about this major development downtown by voting for or against it — the City Council disagrees.

The TIF arrangement had a provision for holding a referendum on how that money should be used if at least 700 qualified people signed a petition requesting it. This was done: The number of signers greatly exceeded the minimum required. But it made no impact on the council. 

Read more here.