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University student government asks Iowa City to proclaim MENA American Heritage Month and proposes wording changes
Summary
University of Iowa Student Government asked the City Council to adopt a proclamation recognizing April as Middle East and North African (MENA) American Heritage Month, requested the proclamation list MENA countries explicitly and suggested reorganizing an ethnicity clause to include Arab subgroups within the Arab designation.
Shefat, a representative of the University of Iowa Student Government (USG), asked the City of Iowa City Council on May 6 to issue a proclamation recognizing April as Middle East and North African (MENA) American Heritage Month and to adopt two specific amendments to the draft proclamation language.
Why it matters: The request would align the city with USG and other jurisdictions that formally recognize MENA heritage and would be a symbolic municipal acknowledgement of the MENA community’s presence in Iowa. USG said April has been recognized annually by the federal government and by Linn County as a time to honor MENA American heritage.
Requested changes: USG asked that the proclamation explicitly list the countries they consider part of the MENA region (the presenter read a list into the record including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, the occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Malta, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Djibouti, and Yemen) to “humanize” and name communities. USG also requested that an existing whereas clause be revised so that Jewish people and Druze would be listed as subgroups under the umbrella term “Arabs” where appropriate rather than as separate ethnicities.
Process note: Shefat said USG passed SSR 1 on April 29 and would like the council to issue a proclamation; staff indicated proclamations route through the mayor’s office and offered to follow up with USG on annual‑proclamation possibilities and the technical process for wording changes.
Ending: Council members thanked the USG representatives and staff offered to connect with them about the mayoral proclamation process and the requested language edits.
