Nearly 90 Jewish faculty, staff, students, and alumni across Iowa’s higher education landscape have issued a collective statement condemning threats to and attacks on their college and university campuses “in the name of the Jewish community.”
Of the 40 Iowa public universities, community colleges and private institutions contacted by the Iowa Capital Dispatch and the 28 that responded, 13 acknowledged having some number of university students or recent graduates with changed federal status.
A multimillion-dollar gift from a Grinnell College alum and technology pioneer will help the private university transform its computer science offerings for students, with funds going to faculty, equipment and more.
One-third of Grinnell College’s campus is now running on renewable energy with a new 9,000-panel solar array, the largest private solar installation in the state.
Unlike Iowa’s public universities that reported larger student bodies this fall than last, many of Iowa’s private colleges saw enrollment drop this semester. And even those bucking the decline have smaller student bodies today than they did years ago before the pandemic struck.
Cedar Falls native and NASA astronaut Raja Chari was joined by Iowa Republican U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst and Rep. Ashley Hinson, of Marion, at Grinnell College Monday for a round table discussion about the agriculture research that’s being done in space.
Iowa’s prestigious Grinnell College this fall has seen a rash of racist and white supremacist graffiti on campus signs and vehicles, with community members also reporting slurs shouted from moving vehicles, prompting the campus and city to issue statements, increase security, and call on the public for help.
The Iowa House went two different directions Monday as it extended more local control to cities to deal with public nuisances, but took away local control from public and private schools, day care centers and colleges by prohibiting them from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations.
Cedar Rapids native Austin Frerick says he will fight for a fair and progressive tax structure and to level the playing field for locally owned farms, restaurants and businesses so they can compete against foreign corporations.
Like campuses nationwide thinking creatively about financial-aid offerings aimed at attracting, retaining and supporting more students in the face of higher education headwinds, Cornell College has unveiled a new “debt reduction pledge” to pay as much as half a student’s federal loan debt.
Grinnell College students planted 5,200-square-foot prairie on campus, opting to cut out the sod and remove it rather than using herbicide to kill the grass. The space now will have 40 different varieties of prairie plants including coneflower, milkweed, purple love grass and little blue stem.
Grinnell College for the next academic year will require all enrolled students to show proof of having recieved a COVID vaccine.
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