I matured and loved my experiences at the University of Iowa. I received a great education, became politically aware, meet my mate, and changed the direction of my life.
The administration disappointed me in their support of the Vietnam War and punishment of anti-war demonstrators. I will not go into it here, but the University of Iowa administration did a number of unethical, if not illegal, actions to punish students and faculty who opposed the war.
Move ahead to 2008.
I still cannot believe it - they paid Karl Rove $40,000 to give a speech (March 9, 2008) at the University of Iowa.
So, when we got a call from the Iowa alumni association Sunday evening - yes, Easter evening - asking for a donation, I had to use all my self-discipline not to scream at the solicitor.
I began with comments similar to the above - we loved our experience at Iowa and received a great education. I then asked it was true that the University had paid Karl Rove $40,000 to give a speech. He admitted they had.
I asked him if he knew what bench mark we had just passed earlier in the day. He hadn’t. I told him the 4,000th U.S. soldier had just been killed in Iraq. "Oh," was his reply.
I explained those numbers did not include the 25,000 to 100,000 who had been injured. Nor did it count 100,000 to 1 million Iraqi deaths or the 4 million Iraqis who lost their homes and are turned into refugees. I told him Karl Rove was a major player in this disaster.
I told him the University of Iowa had learned nothing since the 1970s when it supported the Vietnam war. I explained we could not give financial support an organization that wastes it’s money on people like Karl Rove.
Please, don’t call back - there are no $$$$ for the University of Iowa from this household.