The Daily Iowan

Dorm dilemma: UI faces housing overﬂow

A large demand for on-campus housing has led to unique living spaces.

The start of each school year at the University of Iowa means a legion of fresh faces tromping around campus

The last time this happened was in 2019, Steve Schmadeke, I public relations manager, said on behalf of the I. he uni ersity also decided to reopen arklawn esidence all to free up more rooms, Schmadeke wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan

“We are excited to welcome another large incoming class,” he wrote. “ he number of prospecti e students who expressed interest in living in residence halls prompted us to look at a ariety of options to increase capacity.”

ﬁrst-year students who are kicking o a new phase. Many of these students chose to live in one of the UI’s residence halls. But with increasing enrollment numbers comes an issue li ing space. his year, a number of lounges in May ower and Catlett residence halls ha e been con erted into si -person rooms to accommodate the large number of students who want to li e on campus.

Back in 20 9, these con erted residence hall rooms were a temporary ﬁ until more space was freed up. his year, though, the rooms are permanent. First-year students ylee oney, lla inken, Anna McKernan, and Lauren Hunt are among the groups of new students who are li ing in the con erted rooms. he four girls all hail from Iowa but did not know each other prior to coming to the I. Before room selection in June, the four of them were split into two roommate groups inken with Mc ernan and unt with oney.

Bow hunt season to combat deer overpopulation

The bow hunt season opens this fall, lasting from Sept. 20 to Jan. 10, 2026.

Following a bump in the number of deer in Iowa City, city oﬃcials opened applications for the city’s urban bow hunt, which will help determine if a professional sharpshooter will be brought in for 2026.

In late February, Iowa City contracted hite Bu alo Inc., a nonproﬁt organi ation focused on the conservation of native species and ecosystems, to perform a drone survey of deer in northern Iowa City.

The survey revealed an alarming 480 deer present in the . s uare mile sur ey area, an increase from the 382 found in a 2023 helicopter sur ey. he city noted in its 202 deer management annual report that such a jump may be due to the advantages drones have over helicopters, such as the ability to y lower and slower.

“ hat puts us right about 00 deer per s uare mile in those areas that were surveyed, which is a pretty dense population number,” City Manager eo Fruin said.

he ﬁnding puts Iowa City at four times its 2 deer per s uare mile target.

eer-related car collisions cost Iowa City residents involved in the accidents a total of 2 , 00 according to the report. Smaller incidents such as deer eating bushes and trampling lawns were also a source of frustration for residents.

his fall, Iowa City oﬃcials open applications for the 202 -2026 urban bow hunt season, a crucial step in Iowa City’s deer management program, which aims to lower deer density in the city.

Licensed hunters who are approved by the city are allowed to track and har est deer on cityowned and private property as long as the land meets guidelines, such as being at least 0 feet

away from roads, buildings, parks, trails, and other de elopments.

he bow hunt season lasts from Sept. 20 to Jan. 0, 2026.

“We hope to continue to grow the program and continue our track record of pro iding a safe experience for both the participants of the program and the non-participants of the program,” Fruin said.

Results from bow hunt seasons have been steadily improving over the years, with last year’s

202 -202 season culminating in deer killed and harvested for their remains, 12 more than the previous year, according to the 2024 deer management report.

But a steady hunting climb might be too slow to meet and address resident complaints. Fruin said as the urban deer population has grown over the years, so too have calls and emails demanding action to curb the growing presence of deer.

Iowa City filters through high nitrate summer

Despite record nitrate readings, Iowa City avoided the turmoil of water restrictions that a licted the Des Moines area over the summer.

Iowa ater orks.

uring the summer, the Iowa City community had a lower overall need for water treatment than Des Moines, despite both the city and the state capital grappling with high nitrate levels in the Des Moines, Raccoon, and Iowa i ers.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources detected elevated levels of nitrates in river water, posing problems for the 600,000 people using central Iowa water, according to Central

Nitrates are naturally occurring chemical compounds present in air, soil, and water, which in large uantities can pose threats to health like thyroid issues and cancers, according to the Iowa n ironmental Council. When there are elevated levels of nitrates in river water, more resources must be expended to ﬁlter the water for safe drinking, and the elevated levels of nitrates lower the supply of a ailable, clean water. he city of es Moines characteri ed the dilemma as clean water demand “outpacing ﬁltration capacity.” To curb the growing gap in public water

supply, es Moines and Central Iowa ater orks issued a lawn watering ban in June. By July 29, they rescinded the ban once they made sufficient progress, according to Central Iowa ater orks. he n ironmental rotection Agency has a nitrate measurement standard for “finished water,” or water ready for use, of 10 mg per liter, an amount not naturally isible to the naked eye but a significant amount nonetheless. ot only did Des Moines exceed these levels, but so did Iowa City.

UI adopts new ticketing system

Fans can now get past Kinnick Stadium’s gates by simply

students are mostly optimistic the tap system will make a di erence.

Some fans, howe er, don’t see a di erence.

The Iowa Hawkeyes’ season opener against the University of Albany marked the debut of Iowa’s tap-to-enter ticketing system. The system replaces barcodes with mobile wallet taps to reduce fraud and speed up entry.

he Iowa Athletics icket Oﬃce announced the Hawkeyes’ season-opening football game against the University of Albany on Aug. 30 sold out nearly four weeks before kicko .

However, many fans at Saturday’s game may have overlooked a subtle change to the packed stadium — the way in which they checked in. he awkeyes’ ﬁrst game of the season featured a new ticketing system, coined the Near Field Communication ticketing system that lets fans walk in through the many gates of Kinnick with a simple tap of their phone.

Similar to Apple or Google Pay, the new system requires fans to add their ticket to their respective mobile wallets and simply tap their phone at a kiosk or a gate employee’s handheld scanner. All tickets will need to be downloaded and screenshots will no longer be accepted.

According to KCRG, the Iowa Athletics icket oﬃce stated the biggest reason for the change was to cut down on ticket fraud.

Many UI students are all too familiar with ticket scams as they send buying requests on third-party social media applications, such as Snapchat and Facebook Marketplace.

UI third-year student TJ Peckosh said he hopes the new system will make buying a ticket online less risky.

“I was a victim of a scam one time, a $140 scam for an Iowa State ticket. It really hurt,” Peckosh said.

Although the ticketing office has not released oﬃcial numbers on how this season opener’s scam reports compare to last year,

Coralville to implement license plate readers

As automatic license plate readers multiply in the state of Iowa, questions arise about potential misuse of surveillance data.

The Coralville Police Department is considering the use of automated license plate reader technology, a tool for law enforcement some find controversial due to concerns of potential misuse of data.

Black solar-powered cameras can be found lining streets across Iowa, gathering images of every vehicle that passes. These cameras track license plates in real time, log location data, and contribute to a rapidly growing network of data shared by law enforcement agencies.

These products are designed and sold by Flock Safety, a security hardware and software development company whose technology is slowly being implemented in cities across the U.S. According to its website, Flock uses artiﬁcial intelligence-powered technology to track vehicles on the road, collecting “vehicle fingerprints,” a term coined by the company.

Coralville is considering installing six cameras across town. Installation of these cameras will draw $18,000 annually out of the city’s budget, according to the Coralville Police Department. According to Flock’s website, any server and software management costs are built into the annual subscription.

Once reserved for high

traﬃc metro areas, auto-

mated license plate readers are popping up in smaller communities, including Iowa City and the surrounding area.

As the number of these cameras increases, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa has criticized the use of this technology, citing excessive government oversight and possible violations to privacy.

The Coralville Police Department continues to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this technology and whether it is right for the community.

“This technology isn’t something new,” Kyle Nicholson, Coralville’s chief of police, said. “I was motivated by this because we’re catching up with the times.”

Proponents of these cameras cite faster recoveries for stolen vehicles, missing persons’ cases, and warrant executions. These cameras are already in use by Iowa City and North Liberty.

“This is something that will make our oﬃcers more e ecti e and help us sol e crimes,” Nicholson said.

The ACLU of Iowa has heavily criticized the use of these cameras and said they are an infringement of privacy rights.

“The potential for misuse of that information is huge when data is in a centralized database that can be accessed by any police department in the country who has ALPR cameras with speciﬁcally the Flock company,” Becca

Eastwood, deputy police director for the ACLU, said.

Flock stores data in a cloud network, in which the data can be seen by anyone who has access.

Eastwood said a network that can be accessed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is a danger to immigrant communities.

Similarly, Eastwood cited a case in which Texas law enforcement used the ALPR network to track down a woman who had gotten an abortion in May. These cases raise questions about privacy rights for individuals on the road.

Megan Roos, an Iowa City resident, said she feels these cameras are a threat to her community, citing concerns about mass surveillance, lack of public input, and potential misuse of data by law enforcement or other third parties.

“We have other tools law enforcement can use to solve crimes or prevent crimes,” Roos said. “I don’t think there are suﬃcient legal protections in place to protect individuals from the potentially dangerous data they are collecting.”

Nicholson said the Coralville Police Department is aware of these concerns and is cautiously approaching the implementation of this technology. While the potential for misuse can be worrisome, the department wants to assure the public they have systems put in place.

UI fourth-year student Kaiden Knockel was largely indifferent toward the new system.

“It would probably make it harder to scam, obviously, with people selling their tickets,” he said. “But when it comes down to it, I think if you and your buddy are sharing the same ticket, it would be just as easy to share that same ticket to get in.”

Kinnick gate attendant Carson Dupuis has been working at the stadium for three years. With a faster check in process, he gets more time to gauge the incoming horde of fans for any safety hazards.

“Knowing the people who have bags, trying to make sure that they go to the bag check and being able to see the people walking in, if they have any alcohol or anything else that they shouldn’t bring in, it really helps,” he said.

Another potential benefit of the system stadium officials look forward to e periencing is a more efficient check-in process.

“It works a lot better, and it’s a lot faster once more people get adjusted to it because they’re so used to having the barcodes,” Dupuis said. “It’s a lot easier for us to get more people in, especially with bigger families.”

“We have policies and procedures to prevent [misuse] from happening,” Nicholson said. “We are just trying to build a safer Coralville, ultimately, at the end of the day.”

Eastwood said awareness is the first step in addressing the use of these cameras, pointing out most residents do not even realize cameras are silently monitoring their communities.

“There is a lot of education that needs to be done. ALPRs themselves have been around for quite some time, but the expansion of use of ALPRs that we are seeing is a fairly recent

development,” Eastwood said. “There is a lot of work to be done to make sure that folks know that their cities are surveilling them this way.”

Hunt said she and Roney originally found a double in Rienow Residence Hall but wanted to keep checking the housing page to try their luck at getting into a dorm of their choice. That’s when Hunt found open space in Catlett, the newest residence hall.

“I saw Catlett, and I was like, ‘No way, something in Catlett is open,’ and I look, and it's like a six-person room,” Hunt said. “Me and Riley just wanted to be in Catlett, so we were like, ‘I'll take it.’”

Catlett Residence Hall first opened on the east side of campus in 2017. The dorm is home to over 1,000 residents and boasts its own dining hall, lounge and study spaces, a ﬁtness center, and a central location to the rest of the main campus.

McKernan and Rinken originally ended up in May ower Residence Hall.

“We were like, ‘There's no way. We really do not want to live at May ower,’” Mc ernan said. May ower esidence all is located on the far end of the east side of campus on North Dubuque Street. This distance to campus can often be a deterrent to ﬁrst-year students who are learning the I bus routes for the ﬁrst time.

The dorm was opened in 1968 and can hold over 800 residents. The building features study and lounge rooms, a convenience store, and suite-style rooms, complete with in-suite kitchens and bathrooms. ot satisﬁed with their original result, McKernan and Rinken also decided to try to get a new living assignment.

“So we refreshed it, and we saw the six-person in Catlett, and we were like, ‘Should we just go for it?’ Because Catlett is the nicest dorm,” McKernan said.

“I'm like, ‘Six people? We can deal with that.’”

The now united group of four roommates stumbled upon more good fortune when their third roommate pair ended up going to a di erent residence hall, gi ing the four students more space in their converted room meant for six people.

Move-in went smoothly for the

roommates as they all arrived on di erent days and had plenty of space for their belongings to their new home for the next school year. The only hiccup was the UI could not provide them dimensions for the room, but the girls were able to make it work.

Although their living situation looks a bit di erent from that of their peers, the group has made the most of their circumstances, even becoming a popular room to isit on their oor of Catlett.

“They call it the ‘Penthouse,’” Hunt said, speaking of the people on their oor.

The roommates have become unofficial campus celebrities after Hunt posted a TikTok of their room, showing o their wall of oor-to-ceiling windows, fairy lights, a full-size fridge, and other decorations. The video has amassed over 130,000 views.

The roommates all said they love their room and the fun conversation starter it has been for them as they get to know people on campus.

“Every single person I've talked to about this dorm has been like, ‘Oh my god, I saw your TikTok,’” Rinken said.

The six-person rooms are also cheaper than the other regular residence hall rooms. According to the UI’s housing rates for the 2025-2026 academic year, the rate for a six-person room in Catlett Residence Hall is around $7,000, about $1,000 or more less than other rooms.

Over the past four years, the number of ﬁrst-year students choosing to come to the UI has grown steadily.

In Fall 2020, there were 4,510 first-time students enrolled, according to UI enrollment data. By Fall 2024, the number grew to 5,208. Enrollment data for this year is set to be released by the second week of September, Schmadeke wrote.

To determine the number of new students admitted each year, the UI uses a system called the Strategic Enrollment Manage -

ment model, Schmadeke wrote. This model helps manage campus numbers by considering factors such as classroom and housing space, revenue targets, and college and department capacity.

The UI’s admission requirements for incoming first-year students follow the state Board of Regents’ protocols, as do other public schools in the state, such as Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.

To qualify for automatic admission into these schools, students must achieve a score of at least 245 on the Regent Admission Index, along with taking the minimum number of required high school classes, according to the Board of Regents’ website.

The index number is calculated using ACT or SAT scores, cumulative GPA, and the number of years of completed high school courses in required core areas, such as English, math, and a foreign language. This automatic admission system applies to those entering the UI’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, but other colleges, such

as the College of Nursing or the Tippie College of Business, have their own admission requirements, according to the UI. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the UI’s largest college, containing 70 undergraduate majors and nearly 15,000 undergraduate students, according to the UI.

In terms of total undergraduate enrollment, the UI and other public universities in the state and across the nation have seen an increase in recent years.

The UI and ISU have seen steady increases in total undergraduate student enrollment from Fall 2022 to Fall 2024. The UNI, however, has remained relatively stable throughout the same time period, hovering around just above 7,700.

These numbers seem to be bucking a trend of declining enrollment in the state throughout the last 15 years. According to the Education Data Initiative — which is based out of New York — the number of students pursuing a college degree after high school in Iowa decreased by 47 percent from 2010 to 2020.

Nationally, though, enrollment number trends mirror those of Iowa’s three public universities. The Education Data Initiative reported that college enrollment throughout the U.S. has increased from 18.6 million in 2022 to 19.2 million in 2024 — a rise of 600,000.

Other schools throughout the Big Ten Conference have also seen an increase in undergraduate enrollment. From Fall 2022 to Fall 2024, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, experienced a nearly 2,000-student increase in undergraduate enrollment. The University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign also saw similar increases.

While Iowa’s public universities see increases, some private institutions in the state have reported the opposite. According to enrollment data from Drake University in Des Moines, total undergraduate enrollment fell from 3,338 in

2015 to 2,585 in 2024.

Data from Central College tells the same story, with total enrollment from Fall 2015 to Fall 2023 decreasing from 1,274 to 1,095 — a decrease of almost 180 students. Central College does not have publicly available data for 2024 and does not split up its data by undergraduate or graduate status. This decline also follows national trends. Of the 19.5 million students who were enrolled in a university in 2024, over 73 percent attended a public institution. This percentage has been on the rise over the last 15 years — of the 21 million students who went on to attend a post-secondary institution in 2010, 72 percent opted to go to a public institutions over a private college .

The UI’s residence hall landscape has seen some shakeups in recent years. In early 2023, the UI put May ower esidence all up for sale with plans to construct a new east-side residence hall. After being on the market for some time, the UI reversed this decision, citing record numbers of incoming first-year students as a significant factor in the change. The UI will continue to operate the residence hall until at least 2029. One thing has remained true for the I, though incoming firstyear classes continue to be large. From Fall 2023 to Fall 2024, there was an increase of first-time, first-year students, bringing the total to 5,208 new faces. This class was the third-largest first-year cohort in the university’s history, according to the UI. Schmadeke wrote the UI’s goal with enrollment each year is not necessarily to grow numbers as much as possible but to utilize campus resources e ecti ely to support student experience and success.

“In recent years, the University of Iowa has had record levels of applications and interest, and we hope we can build upon the high level of demand to create consistency in our enrollment of incoming students and continue to increase retention and student success e orts,” he wrote.

OPINIONS Controlling cancel culture

Cancel culture has go en out of hand, and greater evaluation is necessary to control it.

Sydney Sweeney has great genes jeans. Was this intended to be the veiled compliment of eugenics so many people took it as, or merely a creative play on the homophone? Is Sweeney to blame, or was she merely following a script? Do she and the American Eagle brand deserve to be cancelled? Does anyone?

Well, yes and no. It’s a gray area. Cancel culture was recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary in 2016, with the term gaining popularity by 2018.

blown into unreasonable proportions.

Sabrina Carpenter was criticized for her new album cover being misogynistic and degrading to women. Pedro Pascal was called out for being too touchy with female colleagues. People have begun to boycott E.l.f for hiring Matt Rife in an advertisement, a comedian whose offensive jokes at women’s expense drew a harsh contrast to the cosmetic company’s mission of uplifting and inspiring them.

What of this is warranted? What is taking it too far?

“I don’t think Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle deserved the backlash they got for the jeans commercial,” ni ersity of Iowa ﬁrst-year student Carly Thelen said. “They seemed to just intend it as a lighthearted ad, not as trying to make a racial or political statement.”

My personal take varies depending on the situation but leans towards forgiveness, which may be a naive take, but don’t cancel me for it. As Thelen pointed out, the intention was di erent from the reception.

A majority of the recent incidents were oversights or misunderstandings. That doesn’t necessarily excuse some of the actions, but we’re all human; we make mistakes, we overlook smaller details until they become bigger.

e.l.f. community.”

While some comments under the post were dissatisﬁed with the apology, and it indeed could have been a bit stronger, the brand did not intend to alienate women in hiring Rife. They misjudged and failed to account for his past actions and how they might be received.

But the overall concept of “cancelling” is nothing new. Examples show individuals, companies, and movements ostracized and boycotted for behavior deemed unacceptable, ranging from the Salem Witch Trials to the Red Scare.

The term has become so relevant that in her mockumentary, actress Diane Morgan deadpans Jesus Christ was the ﬁrst ictim of cancel culture.

Lately, cancel culture has gotten a bit out of hand, with people looking for any grounds to shun celebrities and public ﬁgures. hile some grounds hold reason and legitimacy, they are sometimes

A 2021 Hill-Harris X poll found people tend to agree with this sentiment: 71 percent of registered voters in the U.S. stated they somewhat or strongly believed cancel culture had gone too far.

Many targets of cancellation have issued apologies after the backlash, taking accountability for their actions. E.l.f. issued an apology on Instagram after the Rife controversy.

“You know us, we’re always listening and we’ve heard you,” the statement said. “This campaign aimed to humorously spotlight beauty injustice. We understand we missed the mark with people we care about in our

There are instances where a brief cancellation may help to right a wrong or force deeper introspection into the actions to blame. Sometimes no more than that is needed. In the instances listed, I do not feel any stronger cancellation is necessary, and too much drama or focus may detract from the actual issues in need of cancellation and attention.

I think the cancel culture energy toward Amazon, Target, and Shein is rightfully placed. Concerns over unfair or discriminatory practices resulting from rolled back diversity, equity, and inclusion standards or cruel and harmful labor practices must contain

more serious repercussions than the wrong marketing tactic. Similarly, the more we focus on what a celebrity said wrong or what brand did something distasteful, the less we are focusing on the famine in Gaza, war in Ukraine, or health care access in the U.S. There are more serious issues in the world than Sweeney’s jeans. That being said, some pop culture cancellation topics reveal cracks running deeper in society. Rather than focusing on the surface-level issues, we need to read into what they signify, what they are reminiscent of. We need to reconsider our approach to cancel culture and think critically before boycotting a person or brand. We need to cancel the real problems and humanitarian crises. Unless the celebrities we tend to cancel are in a real position of power or in uence, we need to direct our focus elsewhere. Mindlessly pointing fingers won’t do anyone any good.

Hazzard County swings doors open

Over the summer, Iowa City changed its beloved bar scene by ousting the so-called freshmen bar Field House and welcoming Hazzard County Iowa City. With its original location in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which opened in 2012, the bar aims to bring a country vibe to the college town – one that Giddy Up, the current country spot downtown, fails to exude for some patrons.

Beyond just providing another gathering spot for students and members of the community, Hazzard County prides itself on playing country music, letting bargoers line dance, and fitting into the college drinking climate by offering deals and specialty drinks.

Based on its popularity in Cedar Rapids, it could find fame in Iowa City. To me, the bar could successfully make way in Iowa City if it keeps its character while still catering to its audience. However, competing bars still have their foot in the door.

Most students at the University of Iowa have a favorite bar already. Personally, on a night out, you’ll find me at Brothers, a bar that’s been around since well before my first year here.

However, after being in Iowa City for nearly four years, I’ve seen several new bars come into the playing field. In the fall of 2023, CAMP, a small bar on Iowa Avenue, opened up a new set of doors to Scout’s Honor, a bar with a northern cabin feel.

At first, I believed Scout’s Honor wouldn’t survive the intense competition for student and community attendance, but now it’s one of my top spots to get a drink with friends or even eat some pizza and hangout.

It’s no secret that here in Iowa City, each bar provides its own experience for customers, and each person clicks with them differently. From Dublin Underground with its bright green carpet and only a few small booths to Reunion Brewery’s vibrant clubbing atmosphere,

each bar has found its place in this city.

So, can Hazzard County do the same, as a country bar in a seemingly country-obsessed state, even though it replaced a beloved bar symbol?

One thing is for sure about the state of Iowa — country values run deep, no matter what city you’re in. The bar appeals to those values, and does it pretty well.

Alex Gilbert, a fourth-year student at the UI, secured a job when the bar opened its doors on Aug. 6.

“I had been to the Cedar Rapids location a lot before, and I just really loved the atmosphere. When I heard one was opening in Iowa City, I wanted to get a job there and work in that environment,” Gilbert said.

Hannah Bleskacek, a student at Kirkwood Community College who lives in Iowa City, hopes the bar stays for good. While still following the bar’s country-themed intentions and goals, the Iowa City location knows its audience and caters to their diverse taste.

“They didn’t just play country music. They played some rap and pop, too, which was nice because most places just pick a genre and only play that,” Bleskacek said. Gilbert agrees, citing drink deals throughout the week as a major factor

in bringing people in.

“I think it does target more of a country audience, but it does have something for everybody because of DJs on the weekends,” Gilbert said.

According to its patrons, the bar is succeeding in bringing a country atmosphere with good drinks to the town. But what about the city’s current country bar, Giddy Up?

Another relatively new spot, Giddy Up replaced another gem to the population, the bar Pints. Opening in 2009, Pints closed its doors in January 2024 after the lease expired. Quickly swooping in, Giddy Up opened its doors in the same location in February 2024.

But both Gilbert and Bleskacek find differences between the two country bars.

“Giddy Up plays solely country music,

Hazzards doesn’t. It’s kind of like the middle ground between what all Iowa City has to offer,” Gilbert said. And while Giddy Up claims to offer line dancing, many who’ve been there, like Bleskacek, have never seen it.

“I had so much fun line dancing at Hazzards. I’ve never done it before, and it’s something I want to do again, so I’m so happy I can try it again in Iowa City,” Bleskacek said.

While it’s true the bar might have some competitive bumps in the road, many people hope to see it become the next Iowa City bar staple, including me. For those mourning the old Field House, an upgraded location on South Clinton Street seems to be in the works. So get some pitchers, save some money, and check out how they do things in the country.

The Iowa River, especially in May, exceeded the 10 mg/L standard and even reached a higher peak than recorded in previous years at 17.2 mg/L, according to data collected by the University of Iowa Hydroscience and Engineering department, and published on the Iowa Water Quality Information System.

Those who spent their summer in Iowa City, unlike those who spent it in the state’s capital, could make a few key observations: no lawn watering ban, no news on nitrates at all. Even when nitrate levels peaked at higher levels than recently recorded and behaved similarly to Des Moines’ levels, life continued as normal.

The answer to this puzzle, according to Iowa City water treatment officials, is demand, which Iowa City Water Superintendent Jonathan Durst said Iowa City had less of than Des Moines over the summer.

“For Iowa City, our customer demand remained relatively steady without a large summer irrigation demand,” he said. “For Des Moines, I am led to understand from reporting, they had irrigation demands causing a substantial increase in their daily production.”

Every summer, Iowans see higher nitrate levels, Durst said, but varying circumstances affect how a municipality like Iowa City might react.

He said there are three methods a treatment plant can use to treat water. One is distillation, which Durst said is economically unfeasible at scales large enough to serve an entire city. Therefore, the remaining two, filtration and dilution, are commonly used. Dilution often uses groundwater from aquifers.

Aquifers are deep and widespread reservoirs of groundwater. According to a UI map of Iowa aquifers, the state has access to four main aquifers that populate the Midwest: the Dakota, Mississippian, Silurian-Devonian, and Cambrian-Ordovician.

Dilution relies on aquifers as a rene-

wable source of clean water to dilute the nitrate-filled water to below the 10 mg/L standard.

Durst said for Iowa City the costs incurred by the use of dilution have already been built into the facility, with no additional costs.

“Now, if we ran into a situation where the nitrates got so high that even our ability to draw water from those wells was insufficient to dilute them, then we’d be

in trouble,” Durst said.

A key issue affecting the availability of groundwater is precipitation, another variable different in 2025 than in previous years.

According to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, rainfall totals in Iowa were 5.03 inches above average in July, at 9.20 inches, making it the second wettest in 153 years.

Durst said, however, increased rain-

fall is a “double-edged sword” when it comes to nitrate treatment. The additional rainfall reduces manual irrigation on farmland but also floods groundwater channels with more nitrates from runoff.

“So I would say most of the time, it might just balance itself out,” he said.

Wastewater treatment is another important step in the water treatment process. Tim Wilkey, Iowa City wastewater superintendent, said the Iowa City facility discharges up to 10 million gallons daily. Over the summer, the facility met solid filtration and discharge requirements for nitrogen and phosphorous of 10 and 1 mg/L, respectively, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

“We’re consistently meeting our nitrogen discharge requirements and our phosphorus discharge requirements, but we have no control of what is already in the river,” he said. “And a lot of the nitrogen phosphates that’s in the river is not from humans. It’s typically from agriculture.”

Agriculture is frequently the target of scrutiny when runoff nitrates and groundwater become an issue.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources Water Quality Resource Coordinator Adam Schnieders said, however, it is justified.

“Agriculture is the dominant land use in Iowa and the primary source of nutrient runoff and urban runoff, including storm water from roads and parking lots,” Schnieders said.

The process for initiating municipal action to enforce water restrictions would start from the city’s water division, Durst said, but only if nitrates reached an unmanageable level.

Durst said he is glad, despite rising and falling year after year, the nitrate issue has risen to the forefront of people’s minds.

“People care about it now,” he said. “Those cares only seem to matter in a crisis. Otherwise, people would rather just not have to worry about it.”

Iowa City police review board dissolved

IC, Coralville o icials seek options that maintain oversight while

Iowa City and Coral ille are looking for a path forward after Senate File , which prohibits communities from ha ing citien police re iew boards, went into e ect on Aug. 6. Signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on May 9, the law bans cities from ha ing “a board or other entity for the purpose of citi en re iew of the conduct of officers,” leading to all six boards in the state, located in Iowa City, Coral ille, ni ersity eights, Cedar apids, ubu ue, and Ames, being forced to dissol e. Iowa City olice Chief ustin iston said Iowa City’s board, the Community olice e iew Board, or C B, started in 99 and has pro ided o ersight of the police department e er since. he board gave the public a voice in the happenings of the police department but had no formal authority. While the board could suggest disciplinary action if a complaint was sustained, they could not enforce it. athy otsenpiller, chair of Coral ille’s Citi ens’ Community olicing Ad isory Board, or CC AB, said, unlike Iowa City, their ad isory board had the job of analying traffic stop data, suggesting additional training, and assisting community members who had potential complaints about the department since it began in 202 . Hotsenpiller said the most valuable part of the board was hearing stories from community members who felt they had uestionable interactions with police during traffic stops.

“It was an opportunity to have conversations with people in the community who did feel like they were discriminated against when they were pulled over,” she said. “I just feel like hearing people’s stories and listening to what people have to say when they feel like they’ e been discriminated against is just important for everyone here.”

iston said he is e cited about the change. He said while some engagement with the community could be missing in the short term, it provides an opportunity to replace the board with a forum that allows for more back-and-forth con ersation with indi iduals, which the C B did not o er.

“I’d like to see a room full of people where people felt comfortable asking uestions and o ering up ideas and feeling like they have a vested interest because it is their police department,” iston said.

he Iowa City City Council formally passed the resolution to dissol e the C B at their meeting on Aug. 9. Councilor Shawn armsen said the city was forced to comply with the new law and described the dissolution as “one of the dumber things to come out of es Moines.”

Harmsen said the Republican lawmakers’ moti es were a political o erreach of power in an attempt to fully support the police department.

“It’s one of those things that makes you want to rap your head against the wall, because it’s just so ridiculous,” Harmsen said.

Harmsen said it would hurt both police and community interests as it takes away a mechanism by which there can be o ersight of law enforcement, and a mechanism that can publicly support oﬃcers in the e ent of a wrongful complaint.

“It’s a shame to see something that has worked so well for our community being brought to an end,” he said. “Not because that’s what our community wanted, but that’s what Republican lawmakers that li e in other parts of this state decided they were going to foist upon us.”

Anthony Detwiler, community relations

oﬃcer at Coral ille olice epartment, said their department was fre uently under scrutiny for complaints that did not end up being founded or complaints that did not ha e much to do with oﬃcer conduct during CC AB meetings. e said

the change could be good, o ering an opportunity for more balance between communication and collaboration with the community.

“You get stuck on something so absurd, like how an oﬃcer stands or how he mo es his hands, and that’s the complaint,” he said. “We want to look at the bigger picture.” e said an open forum where community members could meet and talk to local oﬃcers would be a more e ecti e alternative to communicate and resolve complaints, stating he would like to talk to those who consistently support police, along with those who are skeptical.

“I do like to see the other side,” Detwiler said. “ ike, what’s your e perience And why do you ha e this opinion It’s good for us to know. Because I can’t see myself from the outside. I can only take from what other people have to say.”

iston said while there is no replacement in Iowa City for the C B yet, the city is discussing the probability of a more informal alternati e. In the interim, his department still has channels to report concerns about the police department, he said. his includes the feedback form, where citi ens can ﬁle complaints against

oﬃcers when needed.

In Coral ille, similar discussions about an alternative to their board are taking place.

otsenpiller said Coral ille Mayor Meghann Foster and the Coral ille olice Department have been working together to come up with a replacement committee to continue open communication with the community. Hotsenpiller said she has been included in some of the discussions. Foster said she hopes to maintain transparency regarding police processes and procedures, and while Coral ille is still in preliminary discussions over a replacement, she has drafted the idea of a “community safety committee.”

She said the committee would shift its focus to instances that lead to interactions with law enforcement and open discussions about how to solve these problems within the community. Foster had the idea of bringing in members from organi ations that help people in the community and ha e them talk to law enforcement about how to respond to issues in a meaningful way.

“ he main goal is we want people to know we promote transparency and accountability, and we are willing to listen and ha e hard con ersations if and when something were to occur,” she said. either Iowa City nor Coral ille ha e made oﬃcial decisions regarding replacements for their respecti e boards.

Healthy Kids Iowa: ‘A drop in the bucket’

Anti-hunger advocates say the program did not address Iowa families’ needs.

families to recei e 0 per month per child to help with food costs during the summer months.

Anti-hunger advocates say the Healthy Kids Iowa program, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ summer nutrition program created to replace Summer lectronic Beneﬁt ransfer, was burdensome and ine ecti e at reaching families who needed assistance.

Reynolds announced earlier this year that the partnership between the Iowa Department of ealth and uman Ser ices would allocate $900,000 to provide Iowa children with healthy food options o er the summer. ealthy ids Iowa pro ided families 0 worth of food once a month. o ualify for the program, the Iowa household must meet the federal po erty le el of percent or below and ha e children ages - . he pilot program has concluded after being announced in May 202 that it would replace Summer B . A press release announced Reynolds had rejected the federal funds for Summer B in December, a program that allows eligible

“Our goal has always been to ensure all Iowa children have access to nutritious, balanced, and wholesome food, while promoting healthy eating habits,” Reynolds said in the release.

ecuti e irector of Coral ille Community Pantry John Boller said while many families were grateful for the program, he has had his own criticisms since the start.

“ eynolds felt we needed a separate program that actually made healthy foods a ailable to kids,” Boller said. “It kind of insinuates that parents who received these cards weren’t making healthy food choices for their kiddos.”

im uardado, food reser oir director at awkeye Area Community Action rogram, or ACA one of si food banks that recei ed the allocation of funding to implement the program in eastern Iowa said the families didn’t ha e much of a choice.

“As a food bank, it’s diﬃcult for us to meet the needs of all di erent kinds of cultural foods or food allergies,” uardado said. “Families just didn’t get the choices we would prefer.”

Boller said the implementation of ealthy ids Iowa added to how incredibly busy food pantries and other food access organi ations are.

“We were tasked with this essentially impossible challenge of making sure this program was e ecuted with ero heads up,” he said.

Organi ations were told in May this program would begin, gi ing them a few weeks to plan and order enough nonperishables and fresh food for families.

Alongside being time-and resource-intensi e, Boller said ealthy ids Iowa, if it were to reach everyone they were hoping to roughly 2,200 kids would only ser e 0 percent of those that Summer B ser ed. hile ha ing reached a peak of ser ing ,200 kids in Iowa City in July, pantries had to turn down food donations throughout the summer due to lack of storage. Because of this, they decided to do a once-a-month standalone distribution at a rotating location in the county where some families went home empty-handed.

“We had our best people on it,” Boller said. “[We had] so many incredible partnerships with local cities. hey worked incredibly hard and pro ided olunteers and staﬃng e uipment.”

hroughout the summer, Boller heard repeatedly it was hard for families to plan around the distributions due to them happening one day a month, and the amount of food became o erwhelming for people to take home.

uardado said ACA allowed a pro y to pick up food for families. She said families were able to obtain more food than they would ha e with B , but that could cause some issues.

If the family has ﬁ e children, they recei e ﬁ e bo es of food. Some families don’t ha e fridge space for that product which brought Boller to think this wouldn’t have happened with an B card since it would allow families to pace the way that they purchase food.

Another criti ue from Boller was families had to wait in line in a car to ac uire food.

“ e feel awful because that’s not the way that we believe people should be treated,” Boller said. “It lacks dignity, it lacks choice.”

e said families deser e the right to make decisions about the food that they take home.

“Reynolds said no to this original program in hopes that families would ha e access to all these healthy foods. She said they would have a choice. Nobody had choices. Just a set menu of items. ere’s what you get,” Boller said. “So, if they were to do it again, I will say, very begrudgingly, we would much, much, much rather just move forward with Summer B .”

uardado said families are still going to struggle, and some policy changes need to be put into e ect to help families make ends meet, and, at the same time, understand how they can pro ide food for those who are in need.

While Guardado had issues with the program, she said Healthy Kids Iowa brought partners together and ACA worked hard to make it as successful as possible.

“I just want to acknowledge all of the partners who took time and e ort to help out with this project over the summer,” she said. “We appreciate that so much that we recogni e all the e orts e erybody put into making this happen.”

Boller said they wanted some food ersus no food, but the need is so much greater.

“It’s a drop in the bucket,” he said. Annette acker, chief communication and strategy oﬃcer at Food Bank of Iowa one of Iowa’s si Feeding America food banks is happy with the outcome of Healthy Kids Iowa.

“ he ealthy ids Iowa pilot program has put more food on the table for Iowa kids this summer,” Hacker wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan. “Food Bank of Iowa sourced and delivered more than a million pounds of food just for ealthy ids Iowa. e look forward to sharing feedback with Iowa S and the governor in the coming days.” hile other organi ations may be able to see more positives with Healthy Kids Iowa, Boller stands strong with his discontent toward the program.

“ espite all that incredible effort, it still didn’t reach the kids that would ha e just simply recei ed a Summer B card through the original program,” he said. “Incredibly frustrating, as you might imagine.”

“We’re trying to make sure that the areas in which we are allowing hunting can also be the same areas in which we have some of the higher complaints,” he said. “That’s a diﬃcult match to make because oftentimes the complaints and the accidents are happening in very densely populated areas of the city.”

This bow hunt season will determine the future of the program, namely, if the bow hunts are enough to quell deer overpopulation.

The Iowa City City Council updated the program in 2024 to include nonlethal solutions, such as public education on how to adopt deer repellent landscaping, which uses methods such as installing fencing and planting "unattractive" gardens with strong scents, plants with fuzzy or hairy leaves, and prickly grasses. The update added ﬁ e more years of urban bow hunts, and, if deer numbers called for it, the possibility of a professional sharpshoot between 2026 and 2029.

The last professional sharpshoot was carried out in 20 9 by hite Bu alo Inc’s yan odts, senior wildlife biologist for the nonproﬁt, who worked as the project supervisor on the sharpshoot.

“O er the last fi e years, in the face of professional hunting, recreational hunting, the population's increased about fi e-fold o er what it was when we finished in 20 9,” odts said. “So, you re going to ha e a population that's way above the threshold of what's likely the social carrying capacity.”

hite Bu alo Inc. also e ercises nonlethal methods including fertility control, which reduces animal populations by preventing them from reproducing. But as odts points out, cities can be reluctant to adopt such a plan due to cost.

“It s probably at least twice as e pensi e as doing lethal deer management,” he said.

hite Bu alo har ested 00 deer from the 20 9-2020 sharpshoot. All of the remains were sent to their processor in Solon and distributed to charitable organi ations across the state such as Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry.

Fruin said before the city can assess the need for a 2026 sharpshoot, it needs to get through this year’s bow hunt season, which is less than a month away. The pro-

gram will continue to educate the public on nonlethal deer repellent strategies.

eather Sander, an associate professor in the School of arth, n ironment, and Sustainability at the ni ersity of Iowa, assessed the e ecti eness of such nonlethal strategies to curb the deer population.

“I think those strategies make a di erence in reducing deer and human con ict, but they don t really solve the problem,” she said. “The big issue is we have an awful lot of deer, and browsing vegetation isn't the only con ict we see from them. ehicle collisions tend to be a big one.”

Sander suggested structuring landscapes away from busy roads, which can often create fragment habitats, disorienting deer as they try to run to the ne t green space ahead. Paired with the previously mentioned gardening strategies, Sander said being ery mindful of where green spaces are placed can help deer and residents in Iowa City coe ist.

“ eer don t distinguish between public and pri ate green spaces,” she said. “So backyards, ra ines, those are all habitats to the deer. They don't go, ‘Oh, this isn't a park, I m just going to step away.’ hey don t e en recogni e the di erence.”

ICCSD issues measles plan

The district announced its plan to prevent the spread of measles during the back-to-school season

ith this summer marking Iowa’s ﬁrst positi e measles case since 2019, educators and administrators at the Iowa City Community School istrict partnered with Iowa ealth and uman Ser ices to de elop pre entati e measures.

The district detailed this plan in a presentation at its school board meeting on Aug. 2., e plaining the policies and procedures in place to limit and contain the spread of a positive measles case.

The presentation provided information on Iowa’s immunizations and underscored that families are required to submit an immunization form for their student at the beginning of the school year, which is then reviewed by school nurses. owe er, there are e ceptions to this rule, such as religious beliefs and medical complications.

Positive measles cases spiked in Iowa over the summer with eight cases reported since May.

Iowa’s epartment of ealth and uman Ser ices announced the ﬁrst positi e case of the year on May 29, which was found in an un accinated adult. Since then, more cases ha e been conﬁrmed, with some of them being found in children.

Measles, also known as rubella, is an airborne virus and is easily spread. Symptoms include fe er, cold-like symptoms, rashes, and white spots in the mouth. The school district has encouraged people to review vaccination records and learn how to identify symptoms.

email to families, keeping them updated on the district’s plan.

“ e strongly encourage all families and sta to re iew their vaccination records and consult their health care provider if they have questions or need to update immunizations. As always, the health and safety of our students and sta remain our top priority,” egner wrote.

Within the school district’s plan, following notifying administrators, nurses will determine which sta and students are not immune to measles to keep susceptible individuals, including those who are unvaccinated, away from the outbreak. These individuals will then have to quarantine for 21 days in accordance with a public health order, according to the Aug. 12 presentation.

According to Mayo Clinic, most people recover from measles within 10 days with no lasting health issues. n accinated indi iduals who are young or ha e a compromised immune system are more susceptible to serious health complications and even death.

Matt egner, the district’s superintendent, sent an

he district’s ealth Ser ice Manager, Jessica Jimmerson, led the presentation during the meeting. As a registered nurse with years of e perience, she was essential in helping the district craft its presentation and e posure procedure.

“If we ha e a positi e case of measles identiﬁed in school, public health will contact us immediately,” she said. “They’ll likely know immediately, as it has to be reported.

They’ll then contact the school nurse, and they will then get district administrators in the building involved.”

The district began working with the Iowa Health and uman Ser ices and other medical professionals early on to create an accurate plan of action in the event of a measles case in the district. They were able to put together the presentation and get the useful information out to those throughout the district.

“Public health was in and spoke with our school nurses… they provided training on what symptoms look like, what do we do if there is a positi e case,” Jimmerson said. “ e are compiling a list of the susceptible students. We will continue to work with Johnson County ublic ealth as things evolve.”

School Board resident uthina Malone e pressed gratitude toward Jimmerson and other health care professionals for their assistance in the project.

“ e relied ery hea ily on our irector of ealth Ser ices Jessica,” Malone said. “ e trust the e perts to know what they’re doing people like the S and the C C. e are really lucky to have the support that we do and that we were able to have a tight turnaround on the presentation.”

Let loose at Goose

SPORTS

Helping UI athletes put their best foot forward

Meet the support sta keeping Iowa athletes in peak condition.

University of Iowa’s athletes and coaches put in plenty of work in practice, competition, and their personal lives to produce the best version of their program.

Before their ﬁrst game of the season kicked o , the Iowa women’s soccer team had gained recognition from United Soccer Coaches in their preseason poll, ranking No. 13 in the nation.

Under the leadership of newcomer Ben McCollum, Iowa men’s basketball has already garnered honors for several play-

ers, such as Drake transfer Bennett Stirtz’s invitation to the Chris Paul Elite Guard Camp this summer. For Iowa men’s golf, multiple athletes saw successful seasons on and o the course, with two athletes named to the 2025 Spring Academic All-Big Ten Team, not to mention rising fourth-year Gage Messingham’s ad ance to the ﬁnal stage of qualifying for the 125th U.S. Open. hile coaching sta and athletes themselves play a large part in the success of each of Iowa’s varsity teams, another group, the support sta , works largely behind the scenes to create opportunities as well.

Major conference programs need high-caliber specialty coaches, trainers, and mental health professionals. This could be why 17 percent of expenditures by schools in the Big Ten are made up of compensation for non-coaching athletics sta , a sum of 2 million.

At a Big Ten school like the UI, positions like athletic trainers and sports psycholo gists are crucial. One example is Mariah Cook, who serves as a strength and con ditioning coach for four di erent sports – women’s soccer, golf, tennis, and cross country.

“The main goal in my role is to help put the best version of each of those athletes

First-year Sunny Wang brings international talent to Iowa women’s golf

Hailing from Beijing, China, Wang begins her college

jing to Iowa City can be shocking for anybody. For Wang, she said the biggest thing is the food, but the di erent tastes are made comfortable by the actions of the others around her.

The clubs barely reach above her knee now, but they were Sunny Wang’s ﬁrst tools in her golf journey. A golfer since she was ﬁ e years old, ang’s father introduced her to the game.

“I hit a few shots with these tiny golf clubs, and it started from there,” the golfer said.

Wang, a first-year golfer for the Hawkeyes, was born in Beijing. China’s capital city lies over 6,000 miles away from the former capital of Iowa, Iowa City. Traveling between the two places requires anywhere between 19 to 30 hours.

Wang completed this trip during her recruitment, meeting with head coach Megan Menzel, who took her to the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center and Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“When I was on my visit, everyone was so nice to me and I liked the whole sporting en ironment o er here,” Wang said. “I was like ‘Yeah, this is the place.’” The transition from living in Bei-

“I’m not used to the food yet, but everyone has been so kind, and I think I have settled in pretty well because of how welcoming everyone around me has been,” ang said. Being a member of the Iowa women’s golf team is a pri ilege that o ers many benefits, Wang said, including tra eling to di erent places for matches, which she is particularly excited for.

“In the spring we have a lot of competitions away at really cool places like Puerto Rico and California, so I’d say I’m looking forward to that the most,” Wang said. Much like many collegiate golfers, Wang has been keeping busy over the summer by competing in tournaments to prepare herself for the upcoming fall season. She recei ed a confidence boost this summer, scoring under par in consecuti e rounds for the first time in her career. In late July, she posted - for two rounds then finished in the

red for her third round the next day.

Along with golf, Wang also participated in hockey and netball in the U.K. in her younger days.

“I really enjoyed hockey. I would always take the short corner because I would do this golf thing and hit it in and everyone would be like, ‘Oh my od, you’re so cool,’” ang said.

Recruiting a player that lives all the way in Beijing from Iowa City could be very challenging, but Menzel said the process was rather simple. A recruiting contact served as an intermediary between the team and Wang, and some .S. tournaments o ered the golfer a chance to visit campus.

Besides Wang’s stellar golf game, Menzel said there are plenty of other ualities the ﬁrst-year possesses that can improve the Hawkeyes as a whole.

“She’s just got a maturity about her and a strong love of the game and competition while continuing to want to ele ate herself,” Men el said. “She’s got a great sense of humor that jumped out at all of us right away. She’s always got a smile on her face, and I think she is really excited to wear the black and gold.”

on the ﬁeld and to keep them there,” Cook said. “Part of that really requires building a foundation that is durable and resilient enough to handle the demands of not only training, but competing at their sport at such a high le el.”

After exhibition games against South Dakota and Kansas, Iowa women’s soccer commenced their season with a 3-2 road win at No. 6 Arkansas on Aug. . Cook praised 2th-year head coach Dave Dilanni

Leading with purpose, playing with joy

Mia Magno a and Milly Short are shaping Iowa’s field hockey identity through shared leadership and focus on team-first values.

After last season’s loss against Maryland in the Big Ten tournament, all eyes turned not to the newcomers on the team but to the two remaining seniors of the squad.

Mia Magnotta, a goalkeeper from Forty Fort, Pennsyl ania, and Milly Short, a midﬁelder from orcester, England, experienced the highs and lows of last season and are back for another ride.

The duo has dual purposes in life. Iowa’s nine wins last season was its lowest since 2017-18. Magnotta and Short aim for immediate improvement but also look to guide the new generation in the right direction.

“After re ecting on the 202 season Milly and I did come together,” Magnotta said. “One thing we wanted to both focus on was fostering a better connection and culture in this team — playing with joy and having everybody have a smile on their face. That really helps with resiliency on and o the ﬁeld.”

Short said a key piece of culture building is establishing a democracy where everyone’s voice matters.

“We are very encouraging of allowing everyone to speak up and lead in their own way,” Short said. “ e want ideas to come from everyone, not just the seniors or older players on the team. his all helps them build conﬁdence as players.”

The Hawkeyes lost their streak of six NCAA tournament appearances in a row last year. Restarting that pattern is obvious, but to the seniors, this season is just like every other.

“We have our traditions here at Iowa that we like having every season, but almost one third of our team is new, and we ha e di erent people e ery year,” Short said. “So, we are just trying to play into strengths and skills.”

A roster with new faces can still compete for a championship, Magnotta said. For Short, the key is responding to adversity, and the seniors will be an example.

“Nothing is going to go your way, and you’re going to make mistakes but get comfortable being uncomfortable. e all then can just go out and play,” Short said. hether it’s on or o the field, both field hockey seniors look to make their new teammates feel comfortable, whether it’s sharing smiles and laughs while on the field during practices or even when trailing in games. They look to help produce young leaders — ones that don’t lead because they are expected to but because they want to help those around them.

After a 1-1 opening weekend against a pair of ranked foes in North Carolina and Wake Forest, Iowa has a foundation to build on. Head coach Lisa Cellucci said the s uad has a “clear picture” on what they need to impro e on. For the seniors, it’s their job to turn that image into reality.

Eyes on the prize

Brayden Burne and the Iowa men’s cross country team gear up to

become and set their eyes on a Big Ten crown.

As the almighty hand of the NCAA continues to realign its conferences, the Big Ten is now harder to conquer than ever before, let alone compete in. Last year was the ﬁrst season of the expanded Big Ten conference, which proved to be a challenge for the University of Iowa’s men’s cross country team.

The Hawkeyes finished 13th out of 15 at the 2024 Big Ten Championships, beating out Nebraska and Rutgers. This season, however, Iowa brings a more experienced roster, returning all of their top ﬁ e ﬁnishers from the championship meet last year.

UI fourth-year Brayden Burnett, one of four seniors on the roster, and the rest of the Hawkeyes are ready to take on the gauntlet their conference has

“ his is the most ﬁt I’ e seen our guys coming o of the summer in the four years that I’ve been here,” Burnett said. “Everyone trained their butts o , and it’s showing in workouts, but the pinnacle of showing your ﬁtness is in races.”

Burnett alternated as Iowa’s top ﬁnisher last season with current third-year Miles Wilson and current fourth-year Will Ryan. Burnett enjoyed having those two to push each other, and the three of them never settled for being the team’s top guys. Their focus was to continue to work their way up to face their competitors’ top guys.

ilson was Iowa’s top ﬁnisher at the 2024 Big Ten Championship placing 63rd overall. Burnett and Ryan were Iowa’s second and third ﬁnishers, coming in shortly behind Wilson. They placed 77th

and 81st, respectively.

With another year of racing at the collegiate level under their belts, along with the addition of an impressive freshman class, the boys in black and gold will have the potential to do some serious damage in the Big Ten this season.

Iowa’s roster size decreased from 15 runners in 2024 to just 12 in 2025, the lowest number for the program since 2020. In Burnett’s eyes, this can play to the Hawkeyes’ favor when it comes to outperforming their marks from last season.

“It’s exciting to only have 12 guys and everyone knows their role,” Burnett said. “All 12 of us can be in a scoring position on any given day.”

As Burnett said, having a smaller roster has its benefits. With only 12 guys on the roster, team culture will play a larger role in the Hawkeyes’ identity.

“We’ve always focused on being

Iowa field hockey goalkeeper Mia Magno a

What type of music are you and the team using to prepare yourselves for games/practices?

a tight-knit group that cares about each other outside of running, which I think is very important and special,” Burnett said. “I think that’s something special that we can pass down so the team continues doing that when we’re gone.”

The team cherishes opportunities to bond, such as getting together for a bite to eat after a long run and talking about things outside of running as well. Cross country is as much a team sport as any other sport. With a stronger bond comes a stronger commitment. When there is stronger commitment, you’ll have a team of runners not only doing it for themselves but also for the guys who they train with every day.

“No matter what goes wrong at certain meets, whatever times or personal records you hit, the Big Ten Championship meet is all that matters,” Burnett said.

The Daily Iowan: What got you into field hockey?

Mia Magnotta: My older sister played and I just wanted to copy her. So that’s how I got into it.

Is there a college team you really enjoy playing against?

I love playing against Michigan. They are a great team, and I think there is a lot of camaraderie between their team and our team. They are also very competitive and always a good match.

I love country, but I think a lot of the girls like to listen to pop music. It’s usually a mix of types during practice and pregame.

What is your favorite memory with the team so far?

My junior year when we beat UNC in this tournament. I think that was the best and a really fun game.

What is the coolest place you have visited because of field hockey?

Who is the funniest on the team in your opinion?

Milly [Short]! I think everything that comes out of her mouth just needs to be recorded. She is hilarious.

What is something fun that you and the team have done off the field?

We rent a boat on Lake Macbride in the summer, and that’s really fun.

Who will be Iowa football’s breakout player this season?

Iowa second-year wide receiver Dayton Howard will be a breakout football player this season, ready to pounce on an opportunity as golden as an “On Iowa!” shirt. The Hawkeye offense is long overdue for a breakout star — someone to carry the momentum left by Kaleb Johnson. Howard is a stellar candidate to earn some attention of his own this year. For starters, there’s the physical statistics. While the average size of an NCAA wide receiver varies, Howard’s 6-foot-5 build makes him 215 pounds of potential offensive lethality.

Howard’s track record as far back as high school is also one that shows steady growth. The

Kansas City, Missouri, native made some waves his sopho more year with 150 receiving yards and four touchdowns, earning him second-team all-conference honors.

By his senior year, those numbers were 760 yards and 13 touchdowns, not to mention first-team all-district honors to go with his all-conference nomination.

Similarly, Howard’s college career has the chance to follow the same track. Even with Iowa’s lackluster offense last season, the Park Hill High School alum managed four catches for 62 yards and a touchdown in 12 games. Howard has the size and skill to be an offensive weapon, and his high school and early college careers both show a track record of consistency and reliability. When Iowa needs a hero this year, Howard will answer the call. Averaging 15.5 yards per catch last season despite a struggling offense, he will most definitely be the Hawkeyes’ breakout player in 2025.

From a viral chase down tackle on a punt return in the 2023 Big Ten Championship to reciting the Nile Kinnick Heisman speech played before each home game, oen ntringer has shown ashes of becoming a staple on the Hawkeye defense.

Last season, the third-year safety tallied 18 total tackles in 12 games, one interception, and one pass break-up. is ﬁrst career start came on Oct. 19 against Michigan State, where he recorded the ﬁrst interception of his career.

Entringer’s versatility to play multiple positions in the secondary makes him the perfect candidate for a breakout season. The junior is projected to be the starting strong safety in 2025 and will become one of the main leaders on the

Iowa defense.

Entringer’s outstanding work ethic and hustle will certainly become a fan favorite in Iowa City.

His 6-foot-1, 211-pound stature combined with bla ing speed o ers a mix of ball-hawking ability and hard-hitting potential.

With uncertainty at the linebacker position this season, I belie e that ntringer will ﬁnish in the top ﬁ e on the team in total tackles. With free safety Xavier Nwankpa roaming over the top, Entringer will be freed up to play closer to the box and rack up tackles in the run game. With 31 career games under his belt, Entringer is more than ready to step into a starting role. The junior was one of two in his class to be named to the 2025 Player Council, a group selected by the coaching sta to assist in decision-making and formulating team policies. With his physical abilities and hard-working mindset, Entringer will break out as one of the best players on the Iowa roster this season and potentially become one of the best defensive backs in the Big Ten.

I think Chicago. We go there a lot, and we have toured the city and stu .

for his recruitment of strong athletes and sta .

“Coach ilanni and his sta ha e done an ama ing job o er the past 2 seasons to build this program and recruit really good people, really hardworking kids, and surround himself with an amaing sta ,” Cook said. “I’m really lucky that I’ e gotten to come in and be part of that.”

Brad Floy works as the athletic trainer for Iowa men’s basketball, ha ing been a full-time employee in Iowa City since 20 2.

“I think what sets the ni ersity of Iowa apart from pretty much e erybody else in the Big Ten is our medical care, specifically our sports medicine,” Floy said. “ a ing the opportunity to work within a few hundred yards of one of the best medical centers in the country, along with some of the best team physicians in the country, put me in a position to do the best job that I possibly could.”

Floy further credited the opportunity that was presented to him, ha ing started his career out of grad school elsewhere.

“Aside from being an Iowa nati e, it’s

fortunate that my home state also had this opportunity a ailable,” Floy said. “ hat’s what drew me back. My first position was at Fresno State. I enjoyed being there, but there’s nothing like the ni ersity of Iowa health care system that we’ e got.”

hysical health is unsurprisingly a key component of athletic performance, but recent years ha e seen increasing inclusion of an athlete’s mental health and wellness as well.

Much like with trainers and dieticians for an athlete’s physi ue, sports psychologists and therapists play a key role in the mental well-being of a college athlete.

anner Smith, who works as a mental health therapist for the I’s sports psychology department, noted that all athletes, no matter how skilled, are human beings first and foremost.

“ hey’re college students, so they’re going to ha e to deal with all of the issues that any of us as human beings deal with,” Smith said. “ hey ha e families and histories and romantic relationships, they ha e to transition into the dorms and do all the stuff that e erybody else deals with.”

Smith also acknowledged the correla-

tion between mental health and athletic performance.

“ hat we know, ob iously, is that if they’re struggling in any of those areas, it’s ery easy to struggle on the field, court, whate er their playing surface is,” Smith said. “If someone has a parent that’s ill or they’re going through a breakup, it’s hard to focus in and go try to shoot a really good round of golf.”

ike any position in sports, professions associated with support staff deal with new de elopments regularly, especially gi en the olatility of the CAA.

Following the departure of Fran McCaffery from men’s basketball and the subse uent hiring of rake’s Ben McCollum as head coach, Floy discussed the changes that accompanied McCollum’s arri al in Iowa City.

“In the first fi e months that he’s been here now, I couldn’t ha e thought it could ha e gone any better,” Floy said.

“It’s been really good. e’s really easy to talk to. e understands things. e doesn’t try to o erstep his e pertise area and into the medical field, but he wants to know what’s going on.”

Floy ultimately described his e perience with McCollum as ery positi e. e said he is optimistic about the future of

the program.

“It’s been a great transition,” Floy said.

“I’m really looking forward to working with him for years to come.”

Although Iowa wasn’t the first school to begin incorporating the mental health of athletes, Smith nonetheless praised the growth of these resources on campuses.

“Since I’ e gotten here, we ha e grown, I would say, uicker than I’ e seen a lot of other uni ersities grow,” Smith said. “I’d say the ni ersity of Iowa has been really good about prioriti ing it up front and really pushing those ser ices.”

Cook concluded that Iowa is made special by both the reputation of its programs and the uality of the people who work for those programs.

“I feel like e eryone I spoke to has done an ama ing job uplifting student athletes,” Cook said. “ eople come and work here, and they stay here a long time. here’s lots of coaches and other employees who came to Iowa years ago, who still lo e their jobs and show up e ery day to ser e with a positi e attitude. I think that speaks a lot, especially in the landscape of athletics. ou really don’t see that e erywhere.”

Rising newcomer Liana Tarasco

The UI first-year midfielder is making big strides as a novice Hawkeye.

Liana Tarasco just started her first year on campus as a student-athlete on the o. 0-ranked Iowa soccer s uad, and the newly-turned awkeye is making big strides early in her career.

hile most first-year athletes spend their first season getting acclimated to their new team and en ironment, arasco wasted no time as Iowa’s starting midfielder. arasco fired out of the gates during the first start of her collegiate career against o. 6 Arkansas. She recorded a sa y penalty kick goal in the opening minutes of the match, leading to the awkeye’s -2 top- 0 win in Fayette ille.

The first game on the road against the a orbacks might ha e felt intimidating to some, but for arasco, it was a smaller stage compared to her past. he teenager has represented her national team since and helped the 20 s uad to a Concacaf gold medal this summer.

“I’d say it deﬁnitely helped haing national team e perience,” she said. “But I would say it’s ery di erent playing styles, so it’s a lot of adjusting. I’d still say it’s not that easy. But I ha e support from coaches, sta , and my teammates and stu , so I feel like it’s made the transition ery smooth.”

Tarasco credits her recent success to her e perience in international competition and her e tended time playing as a midﬁelder, a position she’s kept since she was 6 years old.

“I’d say it taught me a lot mentally, especially coming here I was really prepared mentally,” she said. “It’s deﬁnitely an en ironment you ha e to get used to, that you ha e to be able to adapt to.” Iowa head coach a e ilanni recogni ed the beneﬁt of international e perience. Iowa landed second-year defender a Oching from Syracuse in the oseason. Oching, who hails from Col uitlam , British Columbia, repped the ag on the national team, competing in the 2022 FIFA orld Cup.

“ ou play a lot of big games, and these games are more competiti e, and they’re faster paced,” he said.

“But arasco’s still not in awe of the game speed.”

arasco is no stranger to making adjustments. She speaks uent nglish but also understands the Italian spoken by her parents at home. She’s isited the .S. for soccer, but ne er stepped foot in Iowa before. In Iowa City she’s found people going through the same transition. he uni ersity’s 202 international student census reported 2,0 enrolled students.

At the soccer facility, arasco said she’s disco ered teammates and a coaching sta that care for her as a person.

“I’d say that it’s hard to ﬁnd that in college soccer,” arasco said. “ he girls here, when I came here, they were so welcoming to me. hey made me feel like I was at home.”

arasco’s two goals on the season lead the team with two other awkeyes, en ie oling and Oli ia ebdaoui. arasco’s shot on goal percentage is second on

the team at . . She also has a .2 0 shot percentage, almost twice Iowa’s team’s a erage. he young awkeye iews herself as a creator, whether it’s by

dribbling through traﬃc or passing to teammates in open space. arasco prides herself in making things happen on the ﬁeld.

“I lo e touching, turning. I lo e

creating plays,” she said. “It’s my fa orite part of the game, just being able to be the one to control the midﬁeld. I lo e that part of being a midﬁelder.”

Iowa defeated Albany, 34-7, during a football game at a sold-out Kinnick Stadium on Aug. 30.

The life cycle of a book

Every book has passed through several hands and sets of eyes, sometimes across multiple agencies or publishing houses, before ending up on shelves. The publishing process can be complicated, but the editors at the University of Iowa Press are working to help writers navigate its constant unpredictability.

“My book rose out of the MFA program I did in Creative Writing,” UI visiting assistant professor Thomas Mira y Lopez said. “I went for creative nonﬁction, which was a relatively new, undiscovered genre for me.”

His book, “The Book of Resting Places,” is an essay collection that explores grief processing and literal and metaphorical resting places. Throughout the entire book, he also threads together a personal narrative.

After completing the book for his thesis project at the University of Arizona, Mira y Lopez eventually signed with an agent and published through Counterpoint Press in 2017.

One of the first decisions authors make is which publishing house to submit their proposal to, if they decide to go the route of traditional publishing at all. In the modern publishing landscape, many authors may choose to self-publish, hybrid publish, or find some other way to get their writing out into the world.

Editors and professors break down the complexities of the book publishing process.

Every form of publishing has its strengths and weaknesses, as does every publishing house.

The University of Iowa Press, the only university press in the state, publishes scholarly research as well as “trade” ﬁction – pieces written for a more general audience – and poetry.

Many authors who submit to the press do so by submitting a proposal in accordance with the submission guidelines posted on the press’ website.

“We consider [submissions], but we also receive many proposals and manuscripts through literary agents. Then we work with them until the point of contract, and then we work with the author,” Meredith Wadkins-Stabel, acquisitions editor for the UI Press, said.

She and the press also scan through newspapers, journals, and popular media searching for people doing exciting work that aligns with what they are currently publishing.

“For works of scholarship, we’re looking to see if the subject matter ﬁts our area of expertise,” Wadkins-Stabel said. “We look for whether that scholarship is contributing something new to the ﬁeld and if we think it’ll pass peer review. For trade books, we’re looking for really amazing writing styles. Is it an engaging voice, and is it a story people will connect with?”

Wadkins-Stabel said the press’ expertise includes specialities within the humanities, such as theater, literary criticism, and regional topics.

Wadkins-Stabel is one of the earliest people at the press to get her hands on a new manuscript. Once she reviews a new acquisition, the next steps depend on whether the book is a scholarly or trade work. If scholarly, the writing is sent out to two peer reviewers. If trade, either the in-house acquisitions editor will do developmental edits on it, or it will be sent to outside readers for their expertise.

Wadkins-Stabel said one of the most diﬃcult aspects of the publishing process for authors is revision. It can be particu-

structure, Hill Newton checks in with the acquisitions editor again to gain approval. In some cases, she even reaches back out to the author to clarify her questions.

For Mira y Lopez, the concept of his book at its core remained similar throughout the editing process.

“ hen I ﬁrst started the book, I was more interested in taking the title literally, and ha ing it be a tour of di erent cemeteries,” Mira y Lopez said. “As I went on, I took the phrase a lot more loosely.”

At the end of his MFA program, Mira y Lopez had developed a manuscript close to the version he eventually published. While

then write a report of whether or not it would work as a book in translation.

Mira y Lopez provided a piece of advice for anyone who wants to work in publishing or become an author, is to read “widely and weirdly” and to develop a good taste for good work.

“Be open to liking things you might not like right now,” Mira y Lopez said.

To Hill Newton, establishing trust with an author during the editing process can be one of the most worthwhile aspects of publishing.

“If they’re repeat authors, they’re most likely used to being edited, but new

larly challenging for a piece of work that writers have poured a lot of their life and passion into.

“Sometimes it’s hard for authors to let go,” Wadkins-Stabel said. “Sometimes they just want it to be done. They’ve been writing it and moving things around for years, and sometimes it never feels like the ﬁnishing touches are uite ﬁnished.”

Wadkins-Stabel tries to understand and respect the author’s wishes for their work while also considering what the best possible book would be for the outside world.

“We work with the author to make sure the nuts and bolts are tied up, like citations and permissions, before passing the manuscript over to the managing editor,” Wadkins-Stabel said.

double-check permissions and identify any outstanding items to address.

uscript is scrutinized over and over again, just with a di erent set of intentions,” Susan Hill Newton, the UI Press’ manag ing editor, said. around or change something within the

he said the book did not undergo major structural changes, edits included altered titles and rewrites.

Along with his personal work as an author, Mira y ope is a ﬁction editor

authors can be really resistant,” she said.

“I think it’s coming from a place of fear, or lack of conﬁdence.”

Sometimes, writers feel as though changes to their work mean they have

all that,” Hill Newton said. “We already believe in it to some degree.”

Once any lingering structural threads are ironed out, Hill Newton reviews the manuscript for its content, addressing anything that appears to be of speciﬁc concern.

In nonﬁction, concerns typically arise with the back matter and the citation style, ill ewton said. In ﬁction, there can be inconsistencies with proper nouns, misspelled words, and tense shifts.

Anything she observes that is particular to a certain project, she ags for the copy editors to pay special attention to. While developmental and structural edits address overarching themes within a book, copy edits are designed to examine the minute details of a work.

“For instance, we ha e had a nonﬁction memoir that jumped back and forth in place and time. Tracking that got a little confusing, so the copy editor caught a lot of inconsistencies with that style,” Hill Newton said.

As she manages manuscripts, Hill ewton also ﬁnds herself managing personalities. Before pairing an author with a copy editor, she ﬁrst thinks through both the author’s and the editor’s temperaments and experiences.

From there, each author has a structured schedule and time to work with the design department, which undergoes another round of proofreading..

Each step of the process reveals something new, and each step varies in the time it takes for an editor and author to complete.

While the acquisition phase can go on for years, once a book is put into a production the timeline becomes more foreseeable. The copy editing phase normally takes around eight weeks — four weeks for editing, two weeks for author review, and an additional two weeks of cleaning up the manuscript.

After the book is considered done, selling begins.

UI Press Assistant Director and Marketing Director Allison Means’ job is to determine where a book is going to be placed within the market. She has to ﬁgure out the best way for a book to stand out in the market, which can be a huge challenge due to the large volume of novels published every day.

“There’s a lot going on at any given time, starting a minimum of six months before the book is going to be out in the world. By the time the pub date hits, you’re hoping some of the things you’ve been working on for six months will come to fruition,” Means said.

Coming to fruition can be a tall order, especially when considering the body of new releases that are published weekly. An important portion of her job is working with reviewers and publicists to spread the word about upcoming releases.

“When we can get something for an

mars hojilla at Songwriters Festival

mars hojilla and his pop-rock band will perform on Sept. 6 as

Myles Evangelista is a graduate of the University of Iowa who now performs under his pop-rock alter ego mars hojilla. Evangelista overlays his music with lyrics that explore human emotions, love, heartbreak, and the transgender experience.

He ﬁrst broke onto the scene in 2023 at the Mission Creek Festival. This year, he’s been performing at The Englert Theatre’s Northside Saturday Nights, which began on May 3 and will continue through Sept. 27.

The Daily Iowan: Can you tell me a little about yourself and your music style?

Myles Evangelista: My real name is Myles, but I play under a pop-rock alter ego — my Hannah Montana, if you will — mars hojilla. I write pop-rock and folk punk music with my bassist, Logan Kha, and my drummer, Chloe Weidl, but I started playing solo with just a guitar and loop pedal in 2022. I’d been in music projects before then. I had an indie rock band in high school and was part of a brief guitar duo my junior year of college, from 2021 to 2022, and I started playing under the name mars hojilla in the summer of 2022. I played my ﬁ rst show in Iowa City at Trumpet Blossom Café.

How did you get involved with the Songwriters Festival?

I’ve been a fan of the Englert for a while because mars hojilla’s first full

band show in Iowa City was at the Mission Creek Festival in 2023. So, when the time came for the Songwriters Festival to happen, my friend Grace Merritt, who’s the programming coordinator for the Englert, reached out to me to ask if my band and I would be willing to play the Northside series slot during the weekend of the Songwriters Festival. I was happy to be asked and really happy to say yes.

Do you have a particular favorite song you like to perform?

There’s one we’ve been playing since the beginning that’s also out on streaming. It’s our most popular song. It’s called “Pinocchio.” I wrote about my experience of the hard parts of coming out as a trans man, and especially living in Iowa and transitioning during my time at the UI.

It never stops feeling important to talk about existing openly as trans on stages and just in front of people.

Playing that song conveys the perspective of the trans experience to folks who wouldn’t otherwise be aware. It’s also just a love letter to other trans folks, especially young trans people, who may be listening.

Even though I wrote the song during some of the toughest parts of my experience, there is light on the other side of things, and you can see people on stage who are like you and who share that experience.

It’s an outlier to the rest of our music because it’s a real tear-jerker. It’s very personal, but it is one of my favorites.

Is there anything else you’d like people to know before you perform?

I initially got into the music scene at the university because I was in SCOPE when I was a student there. Getting behind the scenes in the music industry put me in touch with some really cool folks in the Iowa City music scene. It introduced me to great people who were there to support me when I started playing music in town myself.

I’m also excited because I feel like it’s rare for music festivals to put focus on the writing and the craftsmanship

aspect of what goes into making and playing a song.

Obviously, it’s great when a song is finished and out there, and I can get people to dance, but it’s not very common that I get to play a show where I can dive into the ﬁ ner details like the Songwriters Festival is highlighting.

I’m also just really excited that we have an opportunity like this in Iowa City, especially because there’s no shortage of musical and literary talent close to home. There is so much strong talent in Iowa City.

This album might not be a ‘Man’s Best Friend’

Sabrina Carpenter’s new album has become a fan favorite despite all the backlash it originally got.

It immediately became a hit, as it follows many of the patterns of some of her other music. Fans took to it for its fun lyrics that call out the way some men act in relationships.

Some of my personal favorites were “My Man on Willpower,” “Nobody’s Son,” and “When Did You Get Hot?” These three really pulled through a lot of what Carpenter’s music is typically known for.

Among the many social media controversies of the summer, one of the bigger ones came from the actress-turned-singer Sabrina Carpenter. Nearly a year after her last album release in August 2024, she announced her newest project: “Man’s Best Friend.”

With a striking photo on Carpenter’s Instagram on July 11, she began the buildup to the long-awaited release. The photo consisted of her on her knees with a man’s hand in her hair.

This caused immediate backlash for many reasons, especially when people began to consider the actual name of the album.

Luckily for her, Carpenter has managed to turn the hate around with her following photo shoots and, now, the album itself. During the weeks leading up to the release date, she invited a few fans to take photos with a puppy to reveal the tracklist day by day.

This fun stunt, combined with the time that had passed since the announcement, allowed people to feel reinvested in the album, growing the excitement for the new music.

On June 6, just a few days before the ﬁrst oﬃcial mention of “Man’s Best Friend,” Carpenter released the song “Manchild.”

This added to the enthusiasm of fans as the song continued to grow in streams and everyone learned “Manchild” would be the ﬁrst song on the tracklist. Carpenter also teased the release of a second music video for the album, “Tears,” which came out the same day as the album.

“Man’s Best Friend” oﬃcially released on Aug. 29 and was quickly met with positive feedback.

The 12-track album was honestly quite similar to her 2024 release, “Short n’ Sweet,” which contains one of her most famous songs, “Espresso.”

The new album has a more upbeat feel, with barely any slow songs. These songs have more adult themes, as much of her newer work does, but they are not stated in a way that feels too vulgar, as many things can be. These songs encapsulate how she presents her life as a young, single, and successful woman.

I found this new album to be fun and exciting, especially as a fan of her music.

Things I really enjoyed from her prior work ended up being my favorite things on this one. While there are only a few songs on here I would go out of my way to listen to again, I think they were all worth the ﬁrst listen through.

The actual music on the album has allowed it to distance itself from the backlash Carpenter was originally getting during her announcement phase. Although there will always be people who feel the start of this album was not the greatest, it feels as if she can reclaim herself through her lyrics.

The Stanley’s new exhibit traces legacy of Iowa art

“In the Studio: Art at Iowa in the 1940s” highlights inﬂuential artists who contributed to the UI’s arts program.

As long as I can remember, I’ve known Iowa City to be an artistic place. Murals coat the walls, sculptures dance in the evening streetlights, and architecture stuns, creating a feeling only this community can evoke. The environment is part of what convinced me to be an art student.

The various art programs at the University of Iowa and the students who attend them are no different. Each course, each piece of artwork, and each semester is nuanced in its own ways, and much of this can be attributed to those who’ve come before us. This progression is highlighted in a new exhibition at the Stanley Museum of Art, called “In the Studio: Art at Iowa in the 1940s.”

Within the relatively small exhibition, past juggernauts of Iowan artists grace the walls. A painting by the legendary Grant Wood is present, in addition to an engraving by the famed Mauricio Lasansky. Works by James Dallas Parks, Philip Guston, Elizabeth Catlett, and Hayward Oubre also appear, creating an overwhelming weight of influence in the gallery.

Oubre, who currently has his own exhibition at the Stanley, arrived at the UI in 1948. He studied under Argentinian-born artist Lasansky, who had started his teaching position at the university a few years prior.

Lasansky had a pivotal role in creating the prestige of Iowa printmaking. He founded the Iowa Print Group, which soon rose to national prominence. As both an artist and an educator, Lasansky’s influence is palpable and easily detectable in the works of the students and faculty around him.

While predating Lasansky, Wood’s legacy in the department is just as relevant. Wood, possibly the most prolific Iowan artist, is most famous for his depiction of a farmer and his wife, titled “American Gothic.” The painting is one of the most recognizable pieces from the Regionalism era, defining

what it means to many as the quintessential Midwestern farmer.

Wood was inspired by a trip to Eldon, Iowa, where he saw a large white farmhouse with a Gothic window. He envisioned the kind of people who would live there and decided to paint them.

While not as recognizable as “American Gothic,” Wood’s contribution to the exhibition is every bit as beautiful. His oil painting is of a young boy in football apparel. Complete with a red plaid sweater, the detail on the boy is astonishing.

The checks on his sweater appear fuzzy, making it feel almost as though you could reach out and touch it. Colorful undertones peak out of his rosy cheeks, and his annoyed ex-

pression aligns with how all children seem to react to being the subject of photography.

One piece that particularly struck me was Guston’s oil painting of his wife and daughter. Originally displayed at the Iowa Memorial Union exhibition in 1944, Guston included the painting before it had been finished.

The painting, depicting Guston’s family, initially gives an unnerving feeling. Their stylistic eyes are slightly too large, with deep pupils that pull the viewer in.

The dark clouds in the back imply an inevitable storm, sweeping toward the mother and child. Storm aside, the lighting of the piece is impeccable. The clothing reflects each wrinkle and

crease, casting shadows across each figure and creating depth.

As an art student myself, I can’t help but empathize with these artists. Their lives, many of which were marred by hardship, were not only dedicated to creating beautiful and meaningful art but also to the students at the UI. They created a culture of safety and acceptance that resonates today.

Complete with small print engravings, large oil paintings, and wired sculptures, the exhibition does a wonderful job of touching on Iowa’s past, leaving way for imagination about the future.

“In the Studio: Art at Iowa in the 1940s” is currently on view through Jan. 25, 2026.

‘The Roses’ upends gender stereotypes

Sharp wit, warring egos, and satirical marital mayhem fuel this darkly comic, role-reversed modern tale.

E very rose has its thorns, and Jay Roach’s new film, “The Roses,” is no different.

Love turns sour in this classic story, depicting a once-happy marriage devolving into chaos and contempt.

Roach’s “The Roses” reimagines Warren Adler’s 1981 novel and its 1989 film adaptation. Rather than retelling the original story, it updates the premise with fresh characters and contemporary marital dynamics for a 21st century audience.

In the book, the two protagonists are named Barbara and Jonathan Rose. Jonathan, a law student at Harvard, meets Barbara at an antique auction where they bid on the same figurine.

Shortly after meeting, they marry, have two children, and settle into a luxurious home in Washington, D.C.

From the outside, it looks as though the Roses are living the quintessential American Dream with loving children, a successful law practice, catering business, and a huge house adorned with prized antiques.

Things start to unravel once Jonathan suffers what he believes is a heart attack. Barbara then realizes she isn’t heartbroken to hear of her husband’s potential demise — in fact, it brings her relief.

She files for divorce and demands the house due to her role as a homemaker. Jonathan refuses, and the once-happy marriage spirals into an all-out war for dominance.

While the original 1989 film follows the book almost exactly, the 2025 film differs drastically from the origina source material.

In the updated film, Theo and Ivy Rose are Brits living in Northern California. Theo, an architect, is in the midst of designing a maritime museum, while Ivy takes care of their two children. When disaster strikes and Theo’s museum is destroyed, the two switch roles, and Ivy starts her own crab shack.

The pair struggles with this new arrangement — especially when Ivy’s business takes off and she becomes an overnight sensation.

The differences created for the matriarch of the Rose household cannot be ignored. Originally, Mrs. Rose spent her time at home taking care of her two children while Mr. Rose went to work and made the money.

While this is how the story starts in the updated version, things quickly shift and traditional family roles are turned on their heads.

Mrs. Rose becomes not only the breadwinner but also the owner of a massive business. Mr. Rose now stays at home with the children, while simultaneously struggling with the collapse of his career.

This massive shift serves to comment on how societal views have evolved across eras, now allowing women to be the breadwinners and men to be the homemakers.

While much of the film remains familiar, its conclusion is entirely new. Focus is shifted from divorce to the enduring complexities of marriage.

The original book and film focus on the destruction of a marriage through a bitter divorce and never fail to mention the terrible things the Roses do to one another.

This new film upends this idea and instead focuses on the trials and tribulations the couple goes through and their inability to communicate.

In the end, “The Roses” blooms into something unmistakably its own. It’s still recognizable but utterly reimagined.

Roach’s film is less about a courtroom divorce and more about two people stumbling back to love just as their world turns sharply on its axis.

Bolstered by Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch’s electric performances, the film delivers darkly comedic marital mayhem through satirical wit and collapsing domestic roles.

Secret History by Donna Tart Perks of Being a Wallﬂower directed by Stephen Chbosky