If this was the first time you thinly veiled a political discussion with something about the Hawkeyes I might believe you. This stuff belongs in the politics forum, you should abide by your own rules.
Good advice, Mr Miller. You would do well to take it seriously. Your reference to "some faction in Iowa City" clearly shows your political and partisan intention.
Truth is, if you made any effort to describe the actual situation objectively you would know easily that the subject of the Arizona law has already been raised not by some vaguely "left" U of Iowa students, faculty, residents of the People's Republic of Johnson County. It has been made a major theme and top political campaign issue by the man most likely to be the Republican candidate for Governor or Iowa--who not only promises to change Iowa law to copy the new statute in Arizona but demands that the United States & the State of Iowa's Constitutions be amended to remove the protection of the Bill or Rights in both constitutions and the 14th Amendment of children BORN in the United States whenever a majority can be persuaded to take away the rights of a group they don't like--Hispanics, Muslims, African-Americans, Jews, Mormons, Asians, Catholics, Pentecostals, "secular humanists", people who eat in the wrong ethnic restaurants, you name it. And he doesn't stop there: he also demands that the Constitution be amended to change the words "any person" to citisen so that non-citizens will no longer have the benefits of due process and other basic American rights.
The "English language only" provisions added to Iowa law, Mr Milller. If you weren't paying attention when that anti-Hispanic sentiment was being stirred up in our state, let me assure you that the divisive fight was not started by some U of Iowa faction that values multi-culturalism.
And as for the hypocritical prattle about bringing politics into sports, the obvious absurdity of such nonsensical posturing is that the University of Iowa is a public institution, chartered and financed by the State of Iowa.
The more basic, fundamental fact most relevant here is that there are few programs at the U of Iowa that are as multi-cultural as the Iowa Hawkeye football team. The one person who may have the principal role IF the Arizona game becomes controversial will be Kirk Ferentz--and if you think Ferentz, a man defined by his loyalty to his staff and players, will agree to proceed with the game IF his players from minority backgrounds object, you simply don't know the man.
As of now, it is only a potential problem for the Iowa Hawkeyes. The irony is that the U of Arizona community, staff and students are strongly opposed to the new law; there is the real possibility that the opposition in Arizona may set about to organize nation-wide boycotts, even the prospect that national Hispanic organizations will do so.
If that occurs, you shouldn't have any doubts about how Ferentz, the Iowa athletic dept, the student body and the U of Iowa administration will respond. If the NAACP or the Jewish Anti-Defamation League or the Council of American Catholic Bishops called upon universities to not participate in venues that discriminated against African-Americans or Jews or Catholics do you think for a moment that the U of Iowa would dismiss it as a "political matter that shouldn't involve sports"? Do you imagine the response would be any different to such a request from national organizations representing Hispanics in the United States?
My guess is that it will not get to the point Iowa has to make a choice.
The reaction to Arizona's effort to legislate bigotry by state statute is a clear violation of the specific language embodying the principles of federalism in the US Constitution: the power to enact & enforce immigration law is explicitly given to the federal government. Enforcement of the new Arizona statute will be suspended quickly, then eventually thrown out in the courts. In the meantime, the impact on Arizona's economy is likely to be so devastating that even the idiots in the legislature will realize that aiming at Mexican nationals they shot themselves.
