Older now but unbowed, nine members of a group that came to be known as the UNI Seven walked across a Maucker ballroom stage Monday night to be honored for their work sparking change on campus some 50 years ago.
Before Rosie the Riveter ever rolled up her sleeves, there were the women of World War I.
Women like Maria Botchkareva, a Russian Army officer who formed the Women’s Battalion of Death, an all-female combat unit that won respect for their toughness fighting on the front lines. Or Edith Cavell, a British nurse working in German-occupied Belgium who helped hundreds of Allied soldiers escape the country.
Three weeks remained before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, but rounds of media interviews and education events had left UNI political science professor Donna Hoffman’s voice scratchy and fading. So when a French news outlet reached out to Hoffman — one of several UNI experts on Iowa’s idiosyncratic method for selecting presidential candidates — her voice couldn’t quite manage another phone or video interview.
The Black Student Union at the University of Northern Iowa launched a celebration Monday of Black History Month with a kick-off ceremony at the Maucker Union, featuring chants, poetry and interpretive dances.
In celebration of Black History Month, the Black Student Union of the University of Northern Iowa will host a month-long series of events to showcase African American culture and provide the campus and community with a glimpse into the unique challenges minority students experience in higher education.
