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THURSDAY, APRIL 5
VOLUME 114, ISSUE 42
VOLUME 117, ISSUE 46
N.I. EN ESPAÑOL
KEYNOTE
SOCCER
NEWS PAGE 2
CAMPUS LIFE PAGE 4
SPORTS PAGE 10
SAA organizó el evento “Apple Polisher” para reconocer el impacto de la facultad y los empleados de la universidad.
The Panther women honor their seniors on senior day.
Keynote speaker Justin Haegele, Ph.D., discusses inclusiveness of PE.
HLC site visit features student forum KARLA DEBRUIN
Managing Editor
On Monday, March 29, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) hosted a Student Open Forum as part of their site visit
to UNI during the re-accreditation process. Held in the Maucker Union Ballroom and online, the meeting allowed peer evaluators to ask questions to UNI students about life on campus. Some of
the topics included what they liked about UNI, some things UNI could improve, the campus climate for diversity and advising on campus. The forum included students in the Maucker Union
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA/Courtesy Photo
Peer reviewers Dr. Lynette Olson, Dr. Anton Reiter (in-person), Dr. Martinez Sotelo and Dr. Sherilyn Poole engaged with students in an open forum discussion during the HLC site visit on Monday, March 29.
Ballroom and students online. Only one peer evaluator was in-person, Dr. Anton Reiter, while the others joined via Zoom. The peer evaluators are professors from other universities in the Midwest that are selected randomly to help with the reaccreditation. Many students had high praises for UNI, mentioning the community they built through academics, work places on campus and student organizations. Student Becca discussed the many opportunities she has had to be involved in “different aspects of the university, both academically and student orgs.” “For a lot of people, I know that is a common thing for people to find your niche,” she said. “I’ve had the opportunity to go to research conferences. UNI provides a great opportunity for finding what is unique about yourself and what you enjoy. They are helping you to make it practical and apply it.”
When asked about ways UNI could improve, several students mentioned the facilities on campus. While some buildings need repair, students did note that other buildings are “brand new,” and the classrooms are always well-equipped. “They have the base level of technology in each classroom,” said one student. “Some rooms have a learning curve with updated technology.” One of the questions the peer reviewer asked was about diversity on campus. Some students mentioned that before coming on campus they thought UNI would be very diverse. In their opinion, all of the marketing is shows diversity, but when they came to campus, they did not experience that level of diversity. They did appreciate the Center for Multicultural Education and the steps that organization was taking on campus. See HLC SITE VISIT, page 4
Former professor publishes graphic novel SARA QUALLEY Staff Writer
Gary Kelley, a UNI alum and former art professor, is publishing a graphic novel called “Moon of the Snow Blind: Spirit Lake,” which follows the story of Dakota Sioux Natives and four female captives of the Spirit Lake Massacre. The massacre occurred in March of 1857 in Spirit Lake, Iowa, where Dakota Sioux Natives killed and captured several white settlers. The tale was originally recounted in an autobiography by Abigail Gardner, one of the four women taken captive by Inkpaduta, a Wahpekute Santee Sioux chief. “Moon of the Snow Blind” starts with the words “two sides to every story.” This is the main premise of the graphic novel, in which Kelley seeks to inform readers about the Dakota Sioux Natives’ perspective and provide background context of what might have incited the Spirit Lake Massacre. “Up until this point, most of the time I think Iowans that knew
that story never heard anything of the Sioux Indian side of it,” Kelley said. “They were always the total villains (of) a one-sided story, but I didn’t look at it that way.” Kelley is an award-winning illustrator who has worked on various picture books and created pieces for Time Magazine and Barnes & Noble. “Moon of the Snow Blind” is his first published graphic novel and has 184 pages. In his research, he found that Dakota Sioux Natives refer to the month of March as Moon of the Snow Blind. Growing up, Kelley was fascinated by Native Americans and their culture, always rooting for them to be victors in various stories. History has seldom been fair to Natives, though, as seen with the events that transpired in Spirit Lake in March of 1857. Kelley said that it’s a dark, grim story for both the settlers and Natives. He believes that Inkpaduta was angered at settlers’ goals to take away Native land. “We wanted everything,” Kelley
said. In his research for the graphic novel, Kelley found that Iowa’s white population in 1850 was 192,214. A decade later in 1860, the population increased to 674,913. Inkpaduta, whose cousin was murdered by white settlers, was likely worried (as were other Native Americans) for their futures. Thus, the massacre can be seen as a result of pent-up frustration, anger and grief of what had been done and what was to come as settlers slowly destroyed the indigenous lifestyle. This story is an important one to Kelley and one he thinks Iowans should know. It’s a layered story with sadness on both sides, historical lessons to learn and a story to inspire empathy toward people of other cultures. “For the Native Americans, they were here before we were,” Kelley said. “This was their place, and now, we took pretty much all of it over.” See GRAPHIC NOVEL, page 9
GARY KELLEY/Courtesy Photo
Gary Kelley has also designed a cover for “Brother’s Blood: A Heartland Cain and Abel” by Scott Cawelti.