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UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA CEDAR FALLS, IA THURSDAY, APRIL 5 VOLUME 114, ISSUE 42
CEDAR FALLS, IA
VOLUME 119, ISSUE 35
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2023
OPINION
CAMPUS LIFE
SPORTS
OPINION PAGE 3
CAMPUS LIFE PAGE 4
SPORTS PAGE 6
Opinion Columnist Nixson Benitez sees changes to come with the introduction of ChatGPT AI.
UNI CATS hosts annual event to show gratitude to donors.
Women’s basketball takes down the Indiana State Sycamores, 91-51.
UNI pep bands on the road again Traducción: El impacto de Pep bands to attend conference basketball tournaments thanks to anonymous donor MALLORY SCHMITZ News Editor
UNI pep bands will now be attending the Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournaments with the help of an anonymous donor. The Northern Iowan reported in November 2022, that the pep bands would not travel to the men’s or women’s conference basketball tournaments due to budget cuts within UNI Athletics.
McDermott en el basket en UNI
NIXSON BENÍTEZ Escritor
JULIE MATTA
Traductora invitada
MELISSA HERNANDEZ Traductora invitada
Nota de la editora: Julie Matta y Melissa Hernandez son estudiantes del curso SPAN 3159 Translation for Heritage Speakers, dirigido por el Prof. Juan Carlos Castillo.
We were very happy and gratified La temporada del baloncesto femenino está en pleno auge. that people around Durante el día dedicado a los STARK campus thought The band program originally learned that the bands would not be attending the conference STEPH medios, la primera entrenadobasketball back in July of 2022. The decision to bring the bands, thanks to a generous donation, comes ra Tanya Warren estableció las it was important tournaments about one month before the tournament dates. pautas, diciendo que este año el de mujeres estaba hamenough to make According to UNI Athletics since the last time we spoke Harris said that the donor equipo briento por la temporada. El David Harris, since [with the Northern Iowan] to has requested that their idenhappen, because Director año pasado, la temporada del the publishing of the article, try to identify funding from tity and the amount donated equipo de baloncesto femenino has stepped forward different ways and in differ- remain confidential. people do value ato donor se acabó en la segunda ronda provide the funds required ent areas, but ultimately, when The donation was given del Torneo Nacional Femenino to send the band to the men’s this donor came forward, that with the specific purpose of the band. por Invitación de 2022 (WNIT
JUSTIN MERTZ Associate Director of Bands
tournament in St. Louis, Mo., and the women’s tournament in Moline, Ill.. “We have been working
ended up being the thing that made the difference for us in being able to provide the funding,” Harris said.
funding the pep band’s travel.
These colleges were selected as peer institutions in 2014 due to their strong similarities to the University of Northern Iowa, as they are all comprehensive regional universities. Nevertheless, as times changed, so did these universities’ similarities to UNI, so in reaction, the University of Northern Iowa’s faculty senate has proposed to update the list. Changes to be included on the new list include keeping the University of Minnesota Duluth, College of Charleston, Eastern Illinois, and Western Washington State University. Concurrently, the College of New Jersey, Central Connecticut State University, Minnesota State-Mankato, University of Wisconsin Whitewater, the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and Indiana State University will be added. Universities removed from
the new list include Truman State University of Missouri, Ferris State, Marshall, SIUEdwardsville, U-Mass Dartmouth and James Madison. Kristin Moser of UNI’s Institutional Effectiveness & Planning office said it was time to change the list. Moser stated, “It is best practice to review an institutional peer list on a regular basis. The last time this review happened was in 2014. During this intermediate period, university characteristics changed based on institutional priorities, demographic shifts, enrollment changes, etc. An institution that was a peer to UNI 10 years ago may have changed to the point that we no longer have as many similarities as differences.” Moser gave an example regarding the drop of Missouri’s Truman State University from the original list to the new one, “For example, Truman State
University was on our peer list. However, their enrollment has declined over the past 10 years, and they no longer are the best peer for us.”
See THE BAND IS BACK, page 2
en inglés).
Ver MCDERMOTT, página 2
UNI and Faculty Senate working to update “peer institution” list GRANT PEDERSEN Staff Writer
At the last UNI Faculty Senate meeting on Jan. 23, 2023, a proposal was discussed to update UNI’s list of peer institutions. The purpose of UNI having peer institutions is so the university can have similar colleges to compare and contrast itself against in critical benchmarks. These benchmarks include enrollment growth and decline, as well as overall educational goals for the institution. The University of Northern Iowa currently has ten peer institutions. They include the College of Charleston, Eastern Illinois University, Ferris State University of Michigan, James Madison University of Virginia, Marshall University, Southern Illinois- Edwardsville, Truman State University, U-Mass Dartmouth, U-Minnesota Duluth and Western Washington State.
The six new peer institutions proposed to join the list were chosen for several reasons. See PEER INSTITUTIONS, page 2
EMILY EAVES
Shifting enrollment numbers, demographics and prioriites are all reasons for universities to update peer institution lists. UNI Faculty Senate has proposed updates to the peer institution list, which will be the first review of it since 2014.