Last month, a firestorm of criticism erupted after players shared images of a single rack of dumbbells and a stack of yoga mats provided for participants in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament in San Antonio — a stark contrast to the state-of-the-art, custom-built weight room available to men’s basketball players in Indianapolis.

It exposed the blatant double standard in college athletics and renewed demands for reform from female athletes, coaches and even politicians. An often forgotten chapter of college athletics offers hope that such reform is possible.

Before the first women’s NCAA championships in 1981, women’s intercollegiate athletics were led by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). At its peak, the AIAW was the largest intercollegiate athletic governing body, boasting over 970 member colleges and universities. Created by female physical educators, the AIAW believed that athletics should first and foremost enhance students’ educational experiences. This approach holds promise not just for rectifying the gender imbalance in college athletics, but also for addressing the exploitation of athletes that calls the very future of collegiate sports into question.

NBC's Hannibal only lasted for three seasons but became a critical darling and quickly inspired a ravenous fanbase. Bryan Fuller's adaptation of Hannibal Lecter's adventures created a new set of fans and a cult audience through its stunning visuals, playful characters, and mythical tableaus of violence that doubled as works of art. The show became a nexus point for viewers that explored consumption, queerness, beauty, crime, and the meaning of love through a lens of blood and gore.

The Covid-19 pandemic, combined with the nationwide protests following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, have laid bare the racial disparities that exist in education, healthcare, political participation, and other systems in the United States. These disparities and inequities accompany students as they enter into the learning spaces at the University of Iowa and can be exacerbated by the pedagogical approaches used. In the wake of the sudden changes in teaching during spring 2020 and the continued uncertainties that are accompanying the start of the 2020-2021 academic year, attention to equity in the student experience is paramount.