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UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA
CEDAR FALLS, IA
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
OPINION
Northern Iowan Editors Bailey Klinkhammer and Caden Shea rank their top snacks at Essentials. SEE PAGE 5
CEDAR FALLS, IA
THURSDAY, APRIL 5
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2024
@NORTHERNIOWAN
VOLUME 114, ISSUE 42
VOLUME 120, ISSUE 29
Uprooting Redlining UNI class’s tree planting project aims to offset effects of redlining in Waterloo CAROLINE CHRISTENSEN Executive Editor
Decaying houses, abandoned buildings and residual pollution from the Rath Packing Company reflect a troubled history of housing discrimination, economic disparity and segregation in a select number of Waterloo neighborhoods. But students in Professor Jayme Renfro’s Race and Public Policy seminar are seeking to change that – one tree at a time. “We’re starting small, so we’re not changing the whole area, but we’re changing our little piece of the world in Waterloo,” Olivia Schneider, a student in Renfro’s class said, “It feels really good to get out there and make a difference.” See REDLINING, page 2 COURTESY/MAPPING INEQUALITY
CAMPUS LIFE
Music critic Callee Fair gives a detailed review of Taylor Swift’s latest album “The Tortured Poets Department.” SEE PAGE 8
In the 1930s, the Homeowners Land Corporation created a series of redlining maps, like the one above of Waterloo, Iowa. These maps classified areas of the cities based on the level of real estate security, which likely played a role in companies denying loans to minority populations for decades. The effects are still felt today, with Wallstreet 24/7 ranking Waterloo as the sixth worst place to be Black in the United States in 2023.
Maucker Union rooftop to be redesigned HOPE SCHULTE Staff Writer
SPORTS
Seven UNI men’s basketball players have recently entered the transfer portal. SEE PAGE 11
One of the University of Northern Iowa’s most iconic buildings and center for student activity is looking to get a facelift. It was recently announced that the rooftop plaza of Maucker Union will be redesigned due to part of the roof membrane underneath the walkable roof needing to be replaced. In order to be more cost effective, the university is looking to lessen the footprint of what would need to be replaced of the walkable roof, while also adding some additional features that students may be interested in using. “What we’re looking at is the programmatic ideas that our university students would enjoy seeing,” Mike Bobeldyk, Director of Student Involvement and Event
MALLORY SCHMITZ
UNI has been collecting feedback from students and community members to redesign the Maucker Union rooftop plaza. Before the building was constructed in 1967, the site had two intersecting sidewalks. The rooftop being walkable has always been an important part of the union’s design.
Services, said. “This is an area that I think a lot of people would say has tremendous untapped potential.” In order to gain some ideas from students on what features they would like to see on top of the roof of Maucker Union, the university gained
feedback from students in a variety of ways. On Thursday, April 11 and on Friday, April 12 the architectural consultant that the university is working with conducted a series of interviews with Bobeldyk’s department staff, and with 16 or 17
prominent leaders of student organizations. Also on Friday, April 12 in the Coffeehouse of Maucker Union, a focus group session was held for student leaders and those in the UNI community to engage in conversation and provide their input for what they would like the plaza space to look like in the future. Over 200 people participated in this process. Another way the university tried to gain feedback on what to do with the rooftop plaza of Maucker Union was by sending out a poll through Inside UNI to the entire UNI community to gain feedback. The poll consisted of a series of six questions asking what spaces, amenities, activities people would like to see on the newly designed rooftop plaza. This poll closed on Friday, April 19. See UNION ROOFTOP, page 2