FACEBOOK.COM/NORTHERNIOWAN
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA CEDAR FALLS, IA
WWW.NORTHERNIOWAN.COM
CEDAR FALLS, IA
THURSDAY, APRIL 5
MONDAY, AUGUST 24
LONG DISTANCE
UNI professor Brooke Wonders teaches online after getting stranded in AZ with newborn. NEWS PAGE 2
TWITTER: @NORTHERNIOWAN
VOLUME 114, ISSUE 42
VOLUME 116, ISSUE 2
LIVING ON CAMPUS Students adjust to living in on campus amidst a pandemic.
CAMPUS LIFE PAGE 4
NBA COACH OF THE YEAR
The NBA names UNI alumni coach of the year. SPORTS PAGE 6
Students flock to bars amid COVID-19 ELIZABETH KELSEY News Editor
TAYLOR SWANK
Staff Writer
With UNI students arriving back to campus this past week, local businesses are experiencing a spike in customers—including the bars on College Hill. This weekend, various social media posts featured photos of bars on the Hill, with students standing shoulder to shoulder in lines that wrapped around in front of neighboring businesses. Very few, if any, students are shown wearing masks. Those who posted the photos expressed frustration with the students who chose to go to the Hill. Ben Thessen, a music education major who posted photos from Friday and Saturday evening, wrote in his post that he was “appalled” at the number of students and their lack of masks. “To every single person who made the conscious decision to go to the Hill tonight,
I want to say that you should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves,” he wrote. Thessen’s post has created a sensation on Facebook with more than 700 shares as of Sunday, August 23. When contacted for comment by the Northern Iowan, he wrote in an email that he had posted the photos in the hopes of starting a discussion about the importance of safety during COVID-19. “Seeing such a large volume of people all together like that was almost unreal to me,” he said. “Seeing such a blatant disregard for public safety got me pretty fired up, and that kind of pushed me from ‘Someone should do something’ to ‘I need to do something.’” He noted that his pictures and post “were not anti-social gathering,” and that he believes a social network and support system are very important during COVID-19. However, he said, there are safer ways to socially interact. “I have seen and heard about
numerous student organizations that have held events this past week that did a great job of putting on a fun event while maintaining proper mask and social distancing guidelines,” he wrote. “It is when a social group chooses to ignore those guidelines that issues begin to arise, as they are now making a conscious choice to put themselves and others in harm’s way.”
people were driving through yards or any area that they could get through. It was
crazy how the landscape of Linn County was destroyed in a half hour.”
See BARS, page 2
BEN THESSEN/Courtesy Photo
ANTHONY WITHEROW/Northern Iowan
Students speak out about Iowa derecho ABIGAIL KRAFT
Staff Writer
On August 10, Iowans were faced with a derecho, a powerful windstorm that left many families with damage to their homes and without power. As students returned to campus last week, many Panthers had to leave their families during the aftermath of the storm to return for in-person learning. Hannah Zwanziger, a senior elementary education major from Cedar Rapids, detailed the terror her and her family faced with the storm. “The sky was black, and it truly looked like we were in the middle of a hurricane,” she said. “Each neighborhood was impacted with trees down and houses damaged. An eight-minute commute home for my mom took two and a half hours as
KAYLA SEYMOUR/Courtesy Photo
Along with the storm, Zwanziger struggled with classes resuming on campus.
“I felt guilty leaving my family and community behind,” she said. “We are still without power, and there is a lot of help needed.” Zwanziger also expressed concern for Iowans facing damage from the storm in the time of COVID-19. She stated that concerns for COVID19 were moved to the “wayside” in order to make sure people were receiving proper help in her community. However, with the heightened restrictions and uncertainty that come with returning to campus amid a pandemic, “we are not sure how much more we can take,” she said. Kayla Seymour, a communication and public relations major who is also from Cedar Rapids, expressed her family’s horrifying experience living through the storm. See DERECHO, page 5