THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2015 THE INDEPENDENT DAILY NEWSPAPER FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA COMMUNITY SINCE 1868 DAILYIOWAN.COM 50¢ IDOU wants UI officials’ resignations By KATELYN WEISBROD [email protected] A local organization is calling for University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld to terminate a UI employ- ee, as well as for Harreld’s resigna- tion. The IDOU has organized a protest for today at noon. Protesters will march from the Old Capitol Mall to Harreld’s office in Jessup Hall to call for both of those dismissals. Peter Matthes, the UI vice pres- ident for external relations, man- aged contracts worth $321,900 given to Matt Strawn, the for- mer Iowa Republican Party Chairman and a GOP pollster to ad- Members of the Muslim community begin to gather for evening prayer at the Iowa City Mosque located at 1812 W. Benton St. on Tuesday. (The Daily Iowan/Anthony Vazquez) minister polling for the UI. Matthes once served as an Iowa Senate Republican Harreld Caucus staff director. president The contracts — PRAYING FOR which paid for state- wide polling of the UI’s image — were pursued under the radar without the typical bidding pro- cess to find the cheapest company. SPACE The Associated Press originally re- vealed the contracts. IT’S A PERSONAL TIME. I WOULDN’T SAY [THE ADMINISTRATION] HAS BEEN DOING A VERY GOOD JOB. An advocacy organization called Iowans Defending Our Universities — WAN MAT DESA, UI JUNIOR has now called on President Bruce Harreld to dismiss Matthes. By TOM ACKERMAN “We told them we can’t have a room where there are sym- “They should be doing it in a way [email protected] bols up in the space. It wouldn’t necessarily be the cross that that’s objective and ethical,” Ty- would be an issue, it’d be anything,” he said. “For our purpos- ler Priest, a member of the IDOU, Muslim students are without a home to pray on the Univer- es, it has to be a blank room basically.” said in an interview. Priest said it’s sity of Iowa campus, often settling for an unoccupied stairwell. The adviser for MSA, Motier Haskins, and student presi- another example of the state GOP But the Muslim Student Association at the UI is asking dent Moustafa Ibrahim met with Vice President for Student shakedown of the UI. the administration for a permanent location to commune — Life Tom Rocklin two weeks ago to begin searching for a suit- “This money was poorly spent and for the third time in roughly six years. able location. The MSA has been a primary force vying for could have gone a lot further if it “We’re pursuing it this year because everything is more or- Muslim accommodations at the UI. was invested in education, not used ganized,” said Mohammed Ismail, an event coordinator in the “We are looking for space. We’ve got some ideas, but nothing is to line the pockets of Republican MSA. He said the officials offered the group a place to pray in nailed down yet,” Rocklin said declining to disclose specific locations. party cronies,” he said. Danforth Chapel next to the IMU several years ago, but they declined due to space issues. SEE PRAYER , 3A SEE HARRELD , 3A ELECTION 2016 Clusterflunk Clinton returns to Iowa City flunks By REBECCA MORIN [email protected] out While in Iowa’s most liberal county, Democratic presidential candidate Hil- By ANIS SHAKIRAH MOHD MUSLIMIN lary Clinton made it known she was not [email protected] going to go after her fellow Democratic candidates. Clusterflunking is no longer an option. Instead, she went after the Republi- ClusterFlunk — a free informa- can Party. tion-sharing site for “I know there aren’t too many Repub- students to communi- licans in Iowa City,” she said, adding the cate with their class- Republican Party is an “evidence-free mates about courses — zone” by not backing up their facts. released a statement Nearly 400 attendees packed into Old via email to their users Brick, 26. E. Market, on Wednesday af- on Wednesday, saying ternoon, where Clinton spent most of the site will be shut- her times taking questions from the au- ting down and discon- dience after only giving a nearly 15-min- tinuing services by the Dallago ute speech. end of 2015. co-founder There are more than 37,600 regis- Joe Dallago, tered Democratic voters in the county, co-founder of ClusterFlunk, said in an compared with the nearly 17,500 regis- interview the startup company decid- tered Republicans, as of December, ac- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks to a crowd gathered in Old Brick Church in Iowa City on Wednesday. Clin- ed to close its services after four years cording to the Iowa Secretary of State’s ton’s main discussion points included the importance of supporting survivors of sexual assault, putting a stop to Islamophobic in existence due to their inability to Office website. rhetoric, and preventing the privatization of social security. (The Daily Iowan/Brooklynn Kascel) find a sustainable business model. There are about 31,200 independent “We’ve since run out of funding,” he registered voters in the county. campaign announcement was in July at 30-minute Q&A session, touched on vow- said. “And we decided it’s in the compa- This was Clinton’s second visit to Iowa the Iowa City Public Library. ing to stop social security from becom- ny’s best interest to shut down services.” City since announcing her presidential Clinton, who spent 15 minutes speak- campaign. Her first visit following her ing before switching over to a nearly SEE HILLARY, 3A SEE CLUSTERFLUNK , 3A WEATHER DAILY IOWAN TV ON THE WEB INDEX HIGH LOW 36 21 • SCAN THIS CODE CHECK DAILYIOWAN.COM FOR HOURLY CLASSIFIED 7B • GO TO DAILYIOWAN.COM UPDATES AND ONLINE EXCLUSIVES. FOLLOW DAILY BREAK 6B OPINIONS 4A Partly sunny to cloudy, very windy. @THEDAILYIOWAN ON TWITTER AND LIKE US • WATCH UITV AT 9 P.M. SPORTS 6A SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE CONTENT. 80 HOURS 1B 2A NEWS THE DAILY IOWAN | DAILYIOWAN.COM | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2015 A SLICE FOR FINALS The Daily Iowan Volume 149 Issue 110 BREAKING NEWS STAFF Phone: (319) 335-6063 Publisher 335-5788 Email: [email protected] William Casey Fax: 335-6297 Editor-in-Chief 335-6030 Stacey Murray CORRECTIONS Metro Editors 335-6063 Call: 335-6030 Chris Higgins, Bill Cooney Policy: The Daily Iowan strives for accuracy Opinions Editor 335-5863 and fairness in the reporting of news. If a Nick Hassett report is wrong or misleading, a request Sports Editors 335-5848 for a correction or a clarification may be Ian Murphy, Jordan Hansen made. Copy Chief 335-6063 Beau Elliot PUBLISHING INFO Photo Editor 335-5852 The Daily Iowan (USPS 143.360) is pub- Josh Housing lished by Student Publications Inc., E131 Design Editors 335-6030 Adler Journalism Building, Iowa City, Iowa Patrick Lyne, Taylor Laufersweiler 52242-2004, daily except Saturdays, Sun- Politics Editor 335-5855 days, legal and university holidays, and Rebecca Morin university vacations. Periodicals postage 80 Hours Editor paid at the Iowa City Post Office under the Justus Flair Act of Congress of March 2, 1879. TV News Director 335-6063 Brianna Jett SUBSCRIPTIONS Web Editor 335-5829 Call: Juli Krause at 335-5783 Tony Phan Email: [email protected] Business Manager 335-5786 Subscription rates: Debra Plath Iowa City and Coralville: $20 for one Classifed Ads/Circulation Manager semester, $40 for two semesters, $10 Juli Krause 335-5784 UI students Kate Zakrzewski (right) and Katherine Schofield pick a slice of pizza inside Mesa on Wednesday. The two were taking a break from studying for finals. (The Daily Iowan/Sergio Flores) for summer session, $50 for full year. Production Manager 335-5789 Out of town: $40 for one sememster, $80 Heidi Owen for two semesters, $20 for summer Advertising Manager 335-5193 session, $100 all year. Renee Manders Send address changes to: The Daily Iowan, Advertising Sales Staff 100 Adler Journalism Building, Iowa City, Bev Mrstik 335-5792 99 counties, 1 goal Iowa 52242-2004 Cathy Witt 335-5794 By GAGE MISKIMEN [email protected] Two men who love to run, but couldn’t decide where to go, resolved to run through every county in Iowa. Dennis Lee of Walford, 49, and Daren Schumaker, 35, are avid runners and decided a few years ago they would run a marathon across all 99 Iowa counties to raise awareness and money for the American Heart Association. The two, who are from FOLLOW US ON TWITTER Cedar Rapids, have been conquering these counties @THEDAILYIOWAN one at a time throughout the last few years, but by the time they are finished, Contributed they will have run 100 marathons, or approxi- Lee’s parents both said. “People usually only “When we started, I mately 2,620 miles. passed away due to heart do it at big events. So it’s a tried to reach out to news- Lee said they thought of attacks and Schumaker pretty tough sell to go out papers in areas we were the idea during a Christ- lost his grandparents to and run in pretty much no- going to ahead of time and mas party at his house in heart disease. where. Nobody is out hand- we had some bad luck,” he 2009, but it soon grew to be “We decided in each ing you Gatorade or cheer- said. “We were early on, so much more. county we had to run from ing you on, so it’s hard to nobody really cared.