9-3-2020

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UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA

CEDAR FALLS, IA

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THURSDAY, APRIL 5

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3

CEDAR FALLS, IA

VOLUME 114, ISSUE 42

VOLUME 117, ISSUE 5

HYGIENE PRODUCTS Opinion columnist Dani Goedken shares her stance on free menstruation products.

ALUMNI WEDDING Northern Iowan alumni Sofia Legaspi gets married.

OPINION Page 3

CAMPUS LIFE Page 4

FILM REVIEW Film critic Hunter Frisen reviews “Tenet”. CAMPUS LIFE Page 5

Quarantine concerns prompt classroom shifts ELIZABETH KELSEY News Editor

Just before 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 2, students in Kyle Tobiason’s Principles of Macroeconomics class began to arrive outside the Commons Ballroom. As each walked up, they stood, hesitatingly, then glanced at the class schedule posted outside the ballroom doors, before nodding and venturing in. Their hesitancy might have seemed out of place for the third week of classes, but the students could be excused: their class was one of nearly 100 classes that has changed location in the last week. According to Patrick Pease, associate provost for academic affairs, the shifting classes are not a response to a high rate of positive COVID-19 cases. “To date, we see no evidence that transmission is happening in our classrooms,” he wrote in an email to the Northern Iowan. “Furthermore, the number of people in our campus commu-

nity who have tested positive is very low compared to university campuses across the nation.” Rather, the goal of relocating classrooms is to reduce the number of students sitting within six feet of each other in in-person classes, since students sitting within six feet of a classmate who test positive are required to quarantine, even if they themselves are healthy. “The issue we are facing is that many healthy people are being asked to quarantine,” wrote Patrick Pease, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, in an email to the Northern Iowan. “Our concern is not with people getting sick, it is that too many healthy students are being asked to sit out of class. The additional changes we are making will greatly reduce the chances of our healthy students being asked to quarantine because they happened to be sitting next to someone who tests positive.” As of Sunday, Aug.

Classes get moved to altenate locations to better follow CDC guidelines.

30, according to the UNI Forward Together COVID-19 dashboard, 83 students were quarantining in Department of Residence facilities. This number does not, however, include students quarantining off-campus. According to Pease, 92 classes have already been relocated to larger rooms with

six feet of distance, but the administration anticipates that about 150-175 classes will move once the shifting is completed. It’s a bit of a domino effect: once one class is moved to a larger location, its previous room is freed up to allow another class to spread out even more.

CATHERINE CROW/Northern Iowan

“Each class that is moved to a better room opens opportunities for other classes to be moved,” Pease wrote. In addition, he anticipates that about 600-650 classes will see changes in the seating arrangement in their existing rooms. See CLASSROOMS, page 2

The show must go on for Orchesis LAUREN MCGUILL Staff Writer

It seems nothing nowadays has been untouched by COVID-19. From work, school, hobbies and extracurricular activities, everyone is living in a new normal. The Orchesis Dance Company is no exception. On Sunday, Aug. 30 at 2 p.m., Orchesis hosted its annual gala at Oster Regent Theater in Cedar Falls. While the event was sadly closed to the public due to COVID-19, the students performed as if the theater was packed to the brim. Those who were given tickets to the show witnessed a beautiful show of 26 different dances, ranging from modern, tap, jazz, hip hop and improvisation. There were 22 student performers as well as a facility performer who partook in the Gala. While the Gala’s original

performance date was set for April 3rd and 4th of this year, it had to change due to COVID-19. The organization did not let this down their spirits, as the dancers spent the rest of the spring and all of the summer training and honing their skills to perfec-

tion. While it wasn’t always easy practicing through video calls, the dancers pushed through and it was clearly shown in their performances. President of the UNI Orchesis Dance Company, Melissa Lemke, who is a Graduate Student study-

ing Health Education with an emphasis on Health Promotion and Fitness Management as well as a certificate in global health and humanitarian studies, shared the difficulties she and her dancers had to go through See ORCHESIS, page 4

TONI FORTMANN/Northern Iowan

Orchesis Dance Company holds annual gala at Oster Regent Theatre


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9-3-2020 by Northern Iowan - Issuu