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Inside Iowa State
February 5, 1999

Letters

FCS college ties to Tuskegee go back to 1967

To the Editor:

It was wonderful to read (Inside Iowa State, Jan. 8) that the College of Agriculture is preparing to send its first participants on an exchange program to Tuskegee University. However, it is inaccurate that such a program is a "first" for Iowa State.

In the fall of 1967, the College of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) had two students on a teaching exchange program in the lab school at what then was Tuskegee Institute. Professor of human development and family studies Corlice Petersen Brooke was one of those students.

The following term, two Tuskegee students came to ISU for their student teaching experience in the Child Development Lab School. Kathryn Madera Miller, associate professor of human development and family studies, supervised the Tuskegee students during their time here. Faculty members at the two schools also exchanged teaching experiences.

Students lived in residence halls and experienced the other institution's unique social, academic and professional life. The program was initiated by then-dean Helen LeBaron and her counterpart at Tuskegee.

FCS is proud to have provided a foundation from which ever stronger ties can be built between ISU and Tuskegee University, such as the one planned by the College of Agriculture.

ISU is a dynamic institution with a strong commitment to providing opportunities for a variety of teaching and social interaction, to better prepare students for the world in which they will teach.

-- Carol Meeks, dean
College of Family and Consumer Sciences

Why the difference in ISU, UNI tax policies?

To the Editor:

The article "Plans set to improve Hilton" in the Jan. 22 issue states Iowa sales tax currently is not collected or paid for guest rooms rented at the Memorial Union or in the residence halls. A large part of my former job at the University of Northern Iowa was ensuring the accurate collection of sales tax on UNI revenue.

We did charge sales tax to residence hall guests in accordance with the guidelines from the Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance, which state, "Taxable accommodations include rooms, apartments, or sleeping quarters in any hotel, motel, inn, public lodging house, rooming house, mobile home, or tourist court, or in any place where sleeping accommodations are rented to transient guests. The accommodations must be rented by the same person for a period of less than 32 consecutive days to be taxable."

The State Auditor's Office thoroughly reviewed the sales tax policies as they applied to UNI, and the UNI controller was told residence hall guest room charges were specifically taxable unless the guest stayed for over 31 days. Why is the policy different at Iowa State?

-- Brenda Voss, program assistant
Office of Student Financial Aid

Editor's note: When Voss' question was posed to Murray Blackwelder, VP for external affairs, he responded: State law (Iowa Code 422A.1) gives universities the option of collecting the tax. We've decided to voluntarily assess the tax on Memorial Union guests. However, the majority of residence hall guests are ISU students and potential students -- young people visiting for camps and conferences. They aren't traditional hotel clients, and that's why we have opted not to assess the tax in the residence halls.

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