Education

The Physical Plant and Equipment Levy finances projects at every school building in the district

Both the University of Iowa and Iowa State University lost meaningful ground in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-2025 “Best Global Universities Rankings” — which were released Tuesday, revealing a 45-spot slide for the Hawkeyes and an 81-position drop for Iowa State.

Also, Cedar Rapids metro cities lobby for more Tower Terrace Road funding

Cedar Rapids school board expected to approve referendum Monday to put the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy on September ballot

Responding to demands from a state lawmaker and Iowa’s Human Society director – made last week after “disturbing” Capitol Hill testimony about “painful” research involving dogs – the University of Iowa reiterated its “unwavering commitment to the health and well-being of research animals.”

Six-plus decades after the University of Iowa began managing a 485-acre swath of mostly woodland known as the Macbride Nature Recreation Area — host to popular UI programs like School of the Wild, the Iowa Raptor Project, and Iowa Wildlife Camps — the university is reviewing its use of that land “to ensure fiscal sustainability and consistency with the university’s mission of excellent education and research opportunities for a broad array of students.”

The new business, called GoldCap Education, is offering programming, taught by local educators to students in 4th-7th grades for the first time this summer with plans to continue programming throughout the school year.

Interspersed with their chants opposing tuition and fee increases during last week’s Board of Regents meeting, protesting graduate students demanded their universities divest from companies tied to Israel – echoing a refrain heard from campus protesters nationally in recent weeks and months.