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/NorthernIowan
March 6, 2017
@NorthernIowan
Volume 113, Issue 42
northerniowan.com
Opinion 3 Campus Life 4 Sports 6 Games 7 Classifieds 8
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Partisan bias bill opinion 3 DM’s Big Event 4 ‘Boys will be Boys’ review 5 MVC men’s basketball update 7
Bill would require profs to disclose politics NICOLE BAXTER Staff Writer
An Iowa bill requiring Regent universities to hire nearly equal numbers of Democratic and Republican professors has been referred to the Senate Education Committe on Capitol Hill in
UNI faculty across campus. Joe Gorton, president of UNI United Faculty, called the proposal “un-American, unconstitutional and stupid.” Gorton labeled the bill fascist and in violation of the First Amendment. “This is an attack against American democracy. It is an attempt to restrain people’s
head of political science, said the bill in question, if it were to become law, would infringe upon one’s right to association, of which political association is included. “I’m under the understanding that right now they can hire people because of diversity,” Chelgren told the Des Moines
“You’re supposed to be bringing in faculty based on their knowledge and their teaching ability, their scholarly ability, in terms of producing research — that’s why they are hired. [Political ideology] has nothing to do with that.” Hoffman admits that hyper partisanship has been increas-
creating Socialists here; we are educating students.” While the content has proven contentious, Larimer also identified a number of issues with the structure of the proposal. “The bill has huge legal challenges, and almost equally large are the implementation issues with it. Because of those two
IRIS FRASHER/Northern Iowan
This graph represents information obtained from a 2007 study. These percentages represent how full-time professors identified their political beliefs. Out of 1,416 professors who responded, 62 percent considered themselves “slightly” to “extremely” liberal, 20 percent considered themselves “slightly” to “extremely” conservative and the remaining 17 percent considered themselves “middle of the road.”
Des Moines. State Senator Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa, introduced Senate File 288, which “prohibits such a university from hiring a person as a professor or instructor if the percentage of the faculty belonging to one political party would exceed by 10 percent the percentage of faculty belonging to the other political party.” This proposal has been met with strong opposition by
political ideas and identities,” Gorton said. Many members of the faculty at UNI have called the bill unconstitutional, claiming that it is in clear violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, which states, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” Donna Hoffman, department
Register on Feb. 20. “They want to have people of different thinking, different processes, different expertise […] so this would fall right into category with what existing hiring practices are.” Chelgren did not return the NI’s requests for comment. Associate professor of political science Christopher Larimer believes this requirement would undermine the hiring process significantly.
ANGELENE ENKE
featured monthly art exhibits, with last month’s exhibit spotlighting local artist and UNI alumna Chaveevah Ferguson. Ferguson is a self-taught
artist and has been for as long as she can remember. She grew up in Chicago, where she danced with the Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago for 12 years before moving to Waterloo and attending UNI. Last Wednesday, March 1, Ferguson presented some of her artwork at the Rod Library. She has been painting since she was 20 years old. She started with oils but eventually shifted to acrylics due to the faster drying rate. Ferguson explained that she has always observed the world around her, which has helped her in her artwork. “I would sometimes be at parties, and I would look around and see that everyone else it talking to somebody but me,” Ferguson said. “I would just be looking and seeing what’s going on.” Ferguson enjoys painting
Chaveevah chats about art Staff Writer
For the past few years, the Rod Library has routinely
KIRBY DAVIS/Northern Iowan
Two attendees of Ferguson’s presentation look at her paintings. Some of Ferguson’s artwork were on display for most of the month of February.
ing, but insists that ideally, a professor’s partisanship does not influence the conduct within the classroom. “Just because I have a political affiliation, or do not have a political affiliation, does not affect what I teach,” Hoffman said. “It is a common trope that [universities] are indoctrinating students. We don’t go around creating Democrats here, or creating Republicans here or
things I don’t see the bill going anywhere. I’d be surprised if it makes it through a subcommittee,” Larimer said. Hoffman added that if the bill passes, it would be difficult to enforce, especially considering one can change their registered party at any time, making the mandatory balance impractical to maintain. See POLI. PROFS, page 2
KIRBY DAVIS/Northern Iowan
Chaveevah Ferguson, a self-taught artist and UNI alumna, points to a figure in one of her paintings. She is interested in observing the world around her.
large groups of people and gets inspiration from weddings and parties. Music and dance are also very influential to her artwork. When comparing dancing to painting, Ferguson said, “[It’s like] apples to oranges. They are both really good fruit, and I enjoy them both.” Many of Ferguson’s work
features groups of people with enhanced body proportions of elongated limbs and rounded faces. According to Ferguson, she doesn’t feel constrained to the idea that her art has to be exactly proportional. In addition, most of her art features vibrant colors. See CHAVEEVAH, page 4