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Presentation celebrates Iowa author Robert James Waller

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Scott Cawelti

The music and poetry of best-selling Iowa author Robert James Waller is the subject of a presentation this weekend.

Scott Cawelti is a retired professor from the University of Northern Iowa who played in a band with Waller from 1961 to 1986. Cawelti says he never would have predicted his friend would make it big in 1993 with the novel, “The Bridges of Madison County.”

“Actually, I was in Germany at the time when it hit the best-seller list and I could hardly believe it,” Cawelti says. “I could recall those songs and I remembered that in a couple of those songs he referred to the very same plot of ‘Bridges of Madison County.’ It was on his mind for most of his adult life, this idea of finding the love of your life and then losing the love of your life.”

Cawelti says Waller had aspirations but was rejected when he took his songs to Nashville. “He had an ambition, he wanted to be a songwriter and he was actually quite a good songwriter, I thought,” Cawelti says. “His songs are poignant, moving, complex, dark, deep, all of that. His songs were not the kind of thing popular songs are made of but I find them really interesting and really beautiful, actually.”

Cawelti says Waller wrote at least a half dozen other novels, a couple of non-fiction books and published some collections of essays. “He was a prolific writer but the one he was most known for, the one the whole world knows about is, of course, ‘Bridges of Madison County,’ about finding this amazing love that changes everything,” Cawelti says. “Once you fall in love like that, you never fall in love again, that’s the idea anyway.”

Waller was born in Charles City and grew up in Rockford, Iowa. He died in March of 2017. Cawelti will give his presentation at 1 o’clock this afternoon at Mulberry Center Church at Wilson Brewer Park in Webster City.

(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)

 

State universities trying to teach composting to students

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College composting bin.

Iowa’s three public universities are urging students to adopt the composting habit in hopes it’ll stick for life.

The University of Iowa is offering 1,000 individual compost bins to first-year students and others who live in dorms. Beth MacKenzie, the U-I’s recycling coordinator, says there are composting programs being held today and Friday where the bins are being handed out.

“They’re small green bins. They’re about a gallon and a half in size,” MacKenzie says. “They have a little sign on the front of them that tells you what can and can’t be composted. Each student that signs up for the program will receive one of those as well as some educational materials.”

The goal is to get students to compost even a pound or two a week to recycle their food waste and keep those leftovers out of the landfill. “Ideally, we would prefer they not have any food waste,” MacKenzie says, “so, it’s one of those balances between we don’t want them to generate food waste in the first place, but if they do, you want to make sure that it’s composted.”

In addition to food and scraps, the compost bins can also be used for things like tea bags, paper towels and pizza boxes. There is a concern about the bins eventually raising a stink, and MacKenzie has a solution. “We are educating the students who do choose to enroll on the importance of making sure they’re emptying it regularly, wiping it out to remove any food residue,” MacKenzie says. “We’re also suggesting that they keep it in their refrigerator, if they have one. That will slow down the decomposition and reduce the odors and potential pests.”

Iowa State University’s Compost Facility is now in its 11th year and has the capacity to take in 10,000 tons of waste. Manure from ISU’s Dairy Farm accounts for about 80% of the facility’s incoming material.

The University of Northern Iowa is offering students a downloadable composting toolkit from its Residential Food Waste Reduction webpage. Food waste from UNI’s dining halls is composted into fertilizer and soil supplements for the Panther Plot student garden — which grows fruits and vegetables that are featured in the dining halls, completing the cycle.

 

Webster City doctor resigns from public universities’ governing board

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Dr. Subhash Sahai

A member of the nine-person board that governs the three state universities has abruptly resigned.

Subhash Sahai, a doctor from Webster City, was appointed to the Board of Regents by Governor Terry Branstad in 2013. His six-year term was scheduled to end next spring. The board’s president announced Sahai’s immediate departure from the board in a news release, but gave no reason for Sahai’s resignation.

Sahai came with his family from India to Iowa in 1967 when he was 18 years old. He went to the University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State and earned his medical degree from the University of Iowa. He’s been a doctor in Webster City since 1976.

Sahai was absent from yesterday’s Board of Regents meeting.

In 2015, Sahai was the only member of the board of publicly raise concerns about the private meetings other board members had with Bruce Harreld before Harreld applied to be president of the University of Iowa. Sahai supported Harreld’s hiring, but argued the private meetings left the impression Harreld had been chosen before the formal hiring process started.

Governor Kim Reynolds will name a replacement to serve out the remaining 10 months of Sahai’s term on the Board of Regents.

Regent says governor, legislators causing ‘pain’ at public universities

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The board that governs the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa has approved tuition hikes for the fall semester, but not before one board member blasted Iowa’s Republican governor and legislators for failing to provide more taxpayer support of the schools.

“The worst state government public attack on our three public universities that I can ever remember,” Board of Regents member Larry McKibben of Marshalltown, said today.

McKibben, a Republican, served 12 years in the Iowa Senate and was the Republican Party’s nominee in Iowa’s third congressional district in1998.

“We are taking three great public universities downhill,” he said.

For students who are residents of Iowa, fall semester tuition will be 3.8 percent higher at Iowa and Iowa State. Tuition rates for UNI students who are Iowa residents will go up two-point-eight percent this fall. Late this morning, the Board of Regents unanimously approved those increases, along with tuition hikes for out-of-state students attending the three universities.

McKibben was the only member of the board to comment before the vote was taken.

“I’m going to vote for this and I’m going to support it, but I think one of the things I’m trying to say to the State of Iowa and the citizens of Iowa is this: ‘We have to do better in the support of these universities,'” McKibben said, describing what he called “pain” at the schools.

A lack of state government support has made this a “very, very difficult time” at the three public universities, according to McKibben.

“Great faculty and staff and researchers at our universities are being picked off by states all over the nation,” McKibben said.

The former legislator predicts state support of higher education will be a “major item” debated in the fall campaign.

“I understand political talk, because I spent the time doing it, but there’s a difference between talking the talk and walking the walk,” McKibben said. “…If we are going to have economic growth, we have to have economic growth with the great students that come through our universities that stay in Iowa.”

AUDIO of McKibben’s remarks, 7:00

McKibben predicted more Iowa, Iowa State and UNI graduates will take jobs out-of-state to pay off the student debt that’s growing because of increased tuition costs. And McKibben warned there will more significant tuition hikes in the future if the governor and legislators do not boost state support of the three universities.

Special Investigation finds former UNI employee put school money in his account

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A special investigation by the State Auditor has found a former University of Northern Iowa professor put school money into his own account.

The special investigation was requested by UNI over concerns about money handled by Samuel Lankford, who worked in the School of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services as the director of the Sustainable Tourism and Environment (STEP) and Recreation Research and Service.

The audit found he improperly deposited three checks worth nearly $15,000 dollars into his personal bank account from a report he did for the Artic Winter Games in 2014. The audit says the money should have gone to the university.

The report says it is not possible to determine if there were other improper deposits to Lankford’s account because proper records were not available for review. Lankford resigned in July of 2015.

The results of the report have been turned over to the UNI Department of Public Safety, the DCI and Black Hawk County Attorney’s office.

 

Board of Regents approves increase in room and board rates

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The cost of tuition isn’t the only thing going up at the three state-supported universities.

The Board of Regents approved an increase in room and board rates for the schools at their meeting Thursday in Council Bluffs. The cost for the most popular double room and meal plan at the University of Iowa will go up 2.7%, it increases 2.4% at Iowa State University, and 1.9% at the University of Northern Iowa.

Regent Nancy Boetger of Harlan asked Brad Berg of the Regents office if the rates go up consistently every year. “Yeah, I think that’s a fair statement. These systems are 100% responsible for all of their operating costs in addition to all of their capital improvements, and they are a self supporting unit,” Berg says.

Berg say they try to keep the costs increases down as he says they are aware that this is part of the cost of attending the three schools. There are a variety of different meal and room plans available at each of the schools.  The most common plan at the University of Iowa with a double room and full board will increase $269 to $10,284. At Iowa State the plan will increase $203 to $8,720. The same type of plan at the University of Northern Iowa increases $167 to $8,948.

Here’s a rundown on the room and board rates: Room-and-Board-rates-PDF

 

Students speak as Board of Regents considers tuition increase

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The State Board of Regents approved the first reading Thursday of proposed tuition increases of nearly 4% for Iowa State University and the University of Iowa and nearly 3% for UNI. Student leaders spoke before the vote, with UNI leader Drew Stensland speaking first.

“It is the students’ stance that tuition be held to as low of an increase as possible with the budget constraints that the university faces,” Stensland says. “Quality education is absolutely vital to students who attend UNI, but the reality is that the cost of going to UNI in comparison to our peer institutions is anything but advantageous.” He told the Regents they have to make sure the cost of education does not get too high for students.

“I don’t envy the decisions that you have to make, and looking forward it is up to you to make sure that you look forward and make sure that the students who come after me have the awesome experience that I am having,” Stensland says. Iowa State University student body president Cody West says he supports the “differential” approach to tuition which charges different amounts for different programs.

“Of all the approaches that we have seen — this one seems to make the most sense to me and the students that I represent,” West says. “This concept is a logical, factual one that will benefit the financial security of the universe. but I would be remiss to say that I fear it has far reaching consequences that are to complex to comprehend at times.” West is ending his term and says in the state budget cuts cannot continue if ISU is to maintain its quality.

“ISU continues to remain in a delicate balance of accessibility and quality. The only option that remains to ensure a quality education is to place this on the backs of students, West says. “I know that I and many of my peers may not have had the opportunity to attend and continue our education if we had enrolled in ISU this fall. For the last time as student body president I want to warn the legislature — they are heading down a dark and unforgiving path.” University of Iowa student president Jacob Simpson called on the school to continue working to make school affordable.

“Financial aid policies and practices must be reviewed and reformed to increase retention and graduation rates and to decrease student debt,” Simpson says. Simpson says the school cannot continue to take cuts in state support.

“The University of Iowa community as a whole should continue to encourage the governor and the Iowa Legislature to fund our institution at an appropriate level because of our invaluable service and our impact on the state, nation and the world,” according to Simpson. Regent Larry McKibbon of Marshalltown told the students there is one person who can have the final say on the issue. He encouraged the students to set up a meeting with the governor.

“I believe the governor would absolutely make time to listen to you and the things that you talked about today,” McKibben says. McKibben says the continued cuts in state funding have hurt the universities and he says they should give back 12 million dollars cut from the budgets.

He says he understands that it is difficult for the legislators to make these budget decisions — but he says the students have delivered the message that it is difficult if they do not provide the funding. The Board of Regents will have their second and final reading on the tuition proposal in June.

 

Legislators plot sales tax break for college students’ textbooks

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Legislators unhappy with a state policy that means anything purchased at a bookstore owned by one of the three state universities is exempt from the state sales tax are crafting a new policy.

Their ultimate goal is to ensure any book required for a course at any public or private college or community college in Iowa may be purchased tax-free. However, all the other merchandise in a bookstore owned by a state university would be subject to the state sales tax.

Charging the sales tax on things like t-shirts, bumper stickers and laptops sold in bookstores on the Iowa City, Ames and Cedar Falls campuses would be a welcome equalizer according to Iowa Retail Federation president Jim Henter.

“We obviously have a lot of folks — bookstores, etc. — in these areas where we are competing, you know, head-to-head…and have that sales tax discrepancy,” Henter said.

The owner of Iowa Book and Supply in Iowa City wrote legislators a letter. He said his family’s 80-year-old business has laid off staff and may have to lease part of the store or close altogether because professors are telling University of Iowa students they can save seven percent on the price of their textbooks by going to the university-owned bookstore.

Keith Sanders, a lobbyist for the University of Iowa, said the university bookstores in Iowa City, Ames and Cedar Falls aren’t charging the state sales tax on merchandise today because that’s what officials in the Iowa Department of Revenue advised them to do.

“We are complying with the way the sales tax law is currently written,” Sanders said. “If the legislature so chooses to change the law, we’d happily comply with that as well.”

A three-member House subcommittee has agreed Iowa college students shouldn’t be charged sales tax on the books their professors require for class, but they plan to craft bill that would require sales tax be charged on all the other merchandise sold in the bookstores owned by the state universities. Representative Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, said that would level the playing field.

“I think there’s a clear inequity that a private book sales person is starting off with an automatic six-percent sales (tax) disadvantage over the governmental entity,” Kaufmann said.

Kaufmann and the other two legislators on the subcommittee indicated it would be easy to develop an electronic list of books required for courses at every public or private college or university in the state, as well as the community colleges. That list would then be used by any retailer to confirm the sales tax would not be charged on a book sale.

Regents will discuss tuition increases at meeting next week

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The State Board of Regents office has released the proposed tuition rates.

The board will discuss proposed tuition increases of 3.8% for the University of Iowa and Iowa State University and a 2.8% increase at the University of Northern Iowa at their meeting next week in Council Bluffs.  Those increases will meet the promise of the board President Mike Richards that they would keep tuition rates for Iowa residents under 4% in the next academic year.

Richards released this statement with the announcement of the proposed rate increases:
“We heard from a wide variety of constituents, both during our 2017 Tuition Task Force meetings and since, about the need to keep our institutions affordable and accessible. However, our public universities need financial resources to continue to provide the top-quality education our students expect and deserve. I believe these rates strike a balance between providing additional resources and retaining affordability, while reflecting the uniqueness of each institution. Only through a strong partnership of university efficiencies, state appropriations and reasonable tuition rates will our universities increase the quality and distinction Iowans expect from their public universities. I look forward to continuing the discussion of tuition and higher education resources at our April meeting.”

The schools had talked this summer about tuition increases as high as 7% after state funding was cut. The board delayed setting rates two times as it waited to find out how much money they would get from the state. The final vote on tuition rates would come in June.

Iowa native’s move closer to home lands him in midst of Loyola’s dream season

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Austin Hansen

A Cedar Falls native has been along for the ride as the Loyola of Chicago basketball team has become the darling of America in the NCAA tournament.

Austin Hansen graduated from Cedar Falls High School in 2012 and then the University of Northern Iowa in 2016. He worked for one year at Tulane University in New Orleans before moving to Loyola to become the team’s director of video for athletics. “It’s been awesome — especially in my role since we don’t have football at Loyola, mens’ basketball is our biggest sport,” Hansen says.

Loyola won the Missouri Valley Conference to get a bid to the tournament and then went on a run that has them poised to play in this weekend’s final four. Hansen isn’t surprise the team has made it this far after following them from the start.

“I’ve actually been traveling with the team the whole season, which has been awesome because you just kind of got to see them emerge from the beginning,” Hansen says. “We knew we were going to be okay this year — I believe we were a preseason three in the Valley and then won a couple of those nonconference games and then all the way through he Florida win — which was huge beating Florida down there.”

It’s not only been a dream season for the team, but the job he took to get closer to his home in Cedar Falls has also become a dream position. “From my prospective it’s been amazing to be able to document the season from everything in the headlines to the national attention the school has been getting,” according to Hansen. “For example, we got back from the Elite Eight game and the entire skyline of the was lit up in Rambler colors. The spires on the Willis Tower, there was a building downtown where the windows spelled ‘Go Loyola’ in the windows.” He says that’s unusual because it is such a pro sports city and they haven’t had a lot to cheer about in the college tournament. “Obviously Northwestern had their huge drought ending season last year and to follow in their footsteps has been really special,” Hansen says.

Though he now works for Loyola, Hansen still follows the Purple and Gold, and says he has an overall love of the Missouri Valley Conference. “The schools are the perfect size where you really can get to know players, you can get to know individuals. It’s a Midwest league — so everybody is super nice all the time,” Hansen says. “But I still love the Panthers and love the Ramblers and it’s a fierce internal rivalry.” He says the hardest sporting event he had to watch was when Loyola played UNI in the MVC tournament as he knew one of his favorite teams had to lose. All the extra attention has kept him busy in San Antonio as he says they had 60 media outlets at their Final Four practice. And then there’s the added attention on the Ramblers top fan — 98-year-old Sister Jean Smith.

“That’s been fun too because we’ve almost as many requests for the team and the coach as we had for Sister Jean….she’s a spitfire,” Hansen says. Hansen says the team has overcome all obstacles to far this year and he expects them to come out with the same attitude when they take on Michigan this Saturday at 5:09 p.m. He’ll be there to chronicle either the win and move into the championship game — or to wrap up the phenomenal season and the school’s first trip to the Final Four since Loyola won the National Title in 1963.

(Radio Iowa’s Pat Curtis also contributed to this story./ Photo courtesy of Austin Hansen)