A House education subcommittee Monday voted along party lines to advance a proposal that would bring meaningful change to the Board of Regents, the universities they oversee, and the students those institutions serve — including through tuition-hike caps and DEI-related “directives.”
The proposal’s DEI restrictions and revisions would bake into Iowa law a list of “recommendations” regents issued its campuses in the fall — including to eliminate any DEI functions not necessary for compliance or accreditation.
“I will reserve my comments for committee work,” subcommittee member Rep. Henry Stone, R-Forest City, said Monday — referencing a regent update on what previously were characterized as its DEI recommendations. “But I do support this bill, and I want to thank the board for coming to clarify that those recommendations are now directives and that we are just codifying what the universities are already doing.”
Before casting their votes, though, members of the subcommittee heard from supporters and opponents — primarily related to House File 2327’s DEI components.
“I urge you to take a look at this issue of diversity, equity, and inclusion from the perspective of our Black and brown and Indigenous siblings,” Connie Ryan, with the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Action Fund, said to subcommittee members while speaking in opposition to the specific parts of the bill that would limit or eliminate DEI-related programming, staffing, or spending.
“There are many groups that benefit from the idea and from the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our higher education institutions, in our public schools.”
When Ryan said that being “straight, white, cis, for me female, for you male, and all the other privileges that we carry with us” can make it hard to recognize, understand, and empathize with others of different backgrounds, subcommittee Chair Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, started laughing.
“I’m sorry that you’re humored by that,” Ryan said. “But it’s hard to look at those challenges with open eyes and open hearts.”
Others spoke in support of the proposed DEI restrictions and revisions.
“Whatever the motivations behind DEI are, in practice, DEI programs have been used to perpetuate racism,” said Ryan Benn, director of policy for The Family Leader, a faith-based socially-conservative advocacy organization led by President and CEO Bob Vander Plaats.
“DEI policies have used race-based decision making, and they discriminate against people who are unwilling to affirm certain ideologies, which were against those things,” Benn said. “We can’t defeat racism with more racism. Scripture teaches the gospel is available to all, and that race doesn’t matter.
“Race shouldn’t matter to us either, and that’s why we’re in support of this bill.”
Board changes, powers
The sole subcommittee member who voted against advancing the proposal — Rep. Sue Cahill, D-Marshalltown — also was the only person Monday to address other aspects of the sweeping bill, like its changes to the Board of Regents and how it hires university presidents.
“I have to admit,” Cahill said. “I have a few questions.”
To the bill’s suggestion that Iowa expand its nine-member volunteer Board of Regents to 11 — with the addition of two “non-voting” members of the Legislature, appointed by the majority leader of each chamber — Cahill suggested a balancing amendment that would further swell the board to 13.
“I would plan on putting forth an amendment that would say we could include also the minority leader in the House and the same in the Senate,” she said, in an effort to “keep our thought process growing.”
Cahill raised questions about portions of the bill changing how the board selects university presidents, like a provision creating a “presidential selection committee” made up of a subset of regents. The committee would recommend the best candidate for the job, and the full board couldn’t hire a president unless they were recommended by the committee.
The legislation also would keep finalist names confidential — where historically they’ve been made public and invited to campus for community forums and public feedback.
“So that was a concern of mine,” Cahill said about the lack of transparency.
No member of the public or subcommittee who spoke Monday addressed a key piece of the legislation capping annual undergraduate tuition increases at 3 percent — severely restricting the board’s control over what has grown to be their largest revenue source, with state appropriations waning.
DEI pros, cons
Most speakers focused on the DEI changes the bill would make law, including:
Eliminating any DEI functions, positions or job duties not necessary for compliance or accreditation; ensuring no one on campus is compelled to submit a DEI statement or disclose their pronouns; issuing employee guidance regarding separation of personal political advocacy from their university business; and exploring ways to advance intellectual and philosophical diversity.
“I would like to speak a little bit to what DEI programming has done for me,” University of Iowa doctoral candidate Emma Denney told the committee, sharing ways in which she’s been mocked and marginalized for her transgender status “by my peers and professors.”
“What DEI did was link me to both legal resources through Title IX and personal support resources through my community at the University of Iowa, to know that I wasn’t alone and that I didn’t have to abandon my studies because people didn’t understand who I was and were afraid of it,” she said.
Courtney Collier, an Iowa mom, spoke in support of the bill — even asking they expand the recommendations to Iowa’s K-12 education system.
“My first-graders were taught at school about pilgrims and Indians at Thanksgiving in a way that left them feeling personally responsible for harms done to the Native Americans,” she said. “They came home and said they were sad that their skin was white. There’s so much wrong with that scenario, including the fact that although my children have fairly light skin, we have Native American ancestry.”
Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.
Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com
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