The Daily Iowan TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA COMMUNITY SINCE 1868
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No bars to learning The UI’s college in prison program continues to grow after its first-ever co-learning course. BY ELIANNA NOVITCH | elianna-novitch@uiowa.edu
‘It’s been enlightening to meet these guys and for them to treat us like humans and not like mistakes. We’re students right along with them. That kind of restored my faith in humanity.’ — Michael Blackwell, inmate
Wyatt Dlouhy/The Daily Iowan Top: Students present a group project during a One Community, One Book class at the Oakdale prison on Oct. 25. Bottom: Program director Kathrina Litchfield facilitates a discussion among students during a One Community, One Book class at the Oakdale prison on Oct. 25. The session was the first opportunity for inside and outside students to learn in the same room.
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he beige-wall classroom comes alive with noise as students arrive and form small groups, scattering throughout the room at long wooden tables to work on presentations. One group puts the finishing touches on a poster as another group runs through a presentation. Books, papers, and markers are strewn across the wooden tables that line the carpeted classroom, which contains a single computer and projector. The classroom has filled up quickly on this cool October evening with around 30 people gathered to hear the presentations. Many are college students, wearing jeans and sweaters. Others seated throughout the classroom are older men wearing the same standard gray T-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers assigned to inmates at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, also known as Oakdale, in Coralville. An unusual mix of people, to be sure. But this class — which brings inmates and University of Iowa students together once a week — is unusual. In fact, not many other communities, or even states, have anything similar. The seven-week course, One Community, One Book, is a one-credit-hour course offered at Oakdale this semester as a part of the UI college in prison program Liberal Arts Beyond Bars. The program is the first college in prison program at a public university in the state and the largest college in prison program serving the most students at a public Research 1 flagship university in the country. Program director and course instructor Kathrina Litchfield begins to take the roll, and the boisterous group of students quiets down. “Kaitlyn, Matt, Daniel, Callie, Wyatt, Zach, Michael …” “Here,” Michael Blackwell replies as his name is called during roll call. The 49-year-old is seated at the back of the classroom. He is serving a life sentence and has been in prison since 1991. He’s served time at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison and the Anamosa State Penitentiary and arrived at Oakdale a little over a year ago. He is one of 13 inmates, or “inside students,” enrolled in the course. The class is the first co-learning opportunity of its kind in which 12 undergraduate students, called “outside students,” from the UI campus go into the prison for class. Together, the students have been doing a close reading of the 2018 One Community, One Book selection Reading with Patrick: A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship, by Michelle Kuo. The reading program is a partnership between the UI campus and the community that aims to promote human-rights education through literature. Through the reading, the class has focused on the theme “Redesigning the American Dream,” the theme for the UI spring 2019 semester. With this theme in mind, the students work in small groups to analyze and create presentations over four main readings: The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin; The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore; Our America, by LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman; and Writing My Wrongs, by Shaka Senghor. SEE BARS, 2
Worker Center expands UI, ISU with move to new space researchers eye universal flu vaccine
The Center for Worker Justice has new office space and celebrates with different parts of the community.
Iowa’s running game falls flat
It hasn’t been an easy three games for the Hawkeyes, and their running backs have suffered. After an Indiana game in which the offense showed a ton of promise on the ground and through the air, it has fallen short recently.
The vaccine can combat numerous flu strains and may need to be taken only once a decade to work. BY CHRISTOPHER BORRO
christopher-borro@uiowa.edu
Construction brings safety concerns for city to address
The move added new classroom spaces and offices, and the new location is near an Iowa City bus stop and the Motor Vehicle Department, 1556 S. First Ave. Center Executive Director Rafael Morataya said the classroom space would be used for educational courses on such subjects as housing and tenants’ rights, sewing, organizational skills, and languages, including English and Spanish. Morataya said until the move, the center had
Researchers at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University have teamed up to develop a new influenza vaccine that, if it is efficient in combating the disease, could protect users for up to a decade. UI pathology Professor Thomas Waldschmidt said the new vaccine has proven effective in preventing sickness in laboratory populations of mice and ferrets. He also said a future phase of testing will involve introducing the vaccine and testing its effectiveness in macaques at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Primate Research Center. The trials are necessary, he said, to Waldschmidt ensure the vaccine’s safety before it is eventually introduced to humans. Waldschmidt said the research team hopes it will prove effective at fighting various forms of the flu so that the virus will need years to evolve to a stage at which a new vaccine needs to be developed. He is part of the group working on the new vaccine,
SEE WORKERS, 5
SEE VACCINE, 5
With construction underway or wrapping up in several locations around Iowa City, city employees say the end result of the work will be well worth the wait.
NEWS, 3
Nick Rohlman/The Daily Iowan A man displays a poster at the new Center for Worker Justice on Nov. 8. The center recently moved to a new location in southeastern Iowa City in order to expand the amount of space available for offices and meeting rooms.
BY ANDY MITCHELL
Tune in for LIVE updates Watch for campus and city news, weather, and Hawkeye sports coverage every day at 8:30 a.m. at dailyiowan.com.
andrew-mitchell@uiowa.edu The Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa moved its location last week to southeastern Iowa City. Founded in 2012, the center advocates for workers in the eastern Iowa area by organizing for higher wages, affordable housing, and improved workplace conditions, while confronting discrimination and assisting the immigrant community.