Letters to the Editor
Diversify the campus
As a former Iowa City resident and student and a loyal alum, I would like to propose a vastly different idea from the three Hancher complex options being considered: Relocate all the fine-arts buildings to an expanded notion of “downtown Iowa City.” It would be an expanded downtown, near enough to one another for convenience, yet sufficiently integrated with the other buildings to encourage exposure to other disciplines.
Silly as it may sound to some, I can’t count the number of business-school graduates who say after they graduated, “Gee, I wish I’d taken (fill in the blank) in college. But I didn’t even know it was available when I was in school.” Or, law-school graduates who, well into adulthood, grew to hate their jobs and wish they’d have been educated as architects or engineers (and visa versa).
Once upon a time, it was a widely acknowledged theory that university students, faculty, scholars, and townspeople greatly benefit from an eclectic campus layout, as opposed to campuses that are strictly segregated into different disciplines. That’s largely ignored today, to the detriment of students, faculty, and townies alike. The location of academic buildings has a lasting effect on whether passersby are likely to be exposed to alternative academic, intellectual, and artistic ideas.
I realize a certain type of college administrator enjoys gazing out the window to see a large collection of nearby buildings which he can call “his own” campus. They will find plenty of other campuses where they can do that. What I believe the UI would benefit from is the kind of campus in which a teacher — say, a history professor — can say to his class, “By the way … stop by the art museum next door and catch that exhibition of early American art.”
John Barrett
UI alum
Public-health option essential
Health-care reform must include health-insurance reform also, in the form of pay cuts for all. In addition, there needs to be a reasonable profit margin established.
Only insurance companies benefit if no public option is available.
Sara Tokheim
North Liberty resident
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