UI conservative group screening Matt Walsh’s ‘Am I racist?’ documentary at Coral Ridge

IOWA CITY — Newly governed by a revised tiered student organization structure the University of Iowa implemented this fall following years of litigation, appeals and legislative action, the UI chapter of conservative-leaning Young Americans for Freedom next week will host its first big event of the academic year.

Matt Walsh — a conservative activist and commentator who last year drew hundreds of protesters during a UI screening of his documentary, “What is a Woman?” — on Monday will screen a prerelease of his second documentary, “Am I racist?”

The event will be held at Marcus Theatres in Coralville’s Coral Ridge Mall instead of on the UI campus — where in April 2023 police screened more than 750 people who came to hear Walsh speak in the Iowa Memorial Union after showing his “What is a Woman?” documentary, which opposed gender ideology in defining womanhood.

“The decision to choose the Coralville location this year was not related to new UI policies or to avoid protests,” Jasmyn Jordan, Iowa Young Americans for Freedom chairwoman and national chairwoman of Young Americans for Freedom, told The Gazette. “It was based on logistical considerations that better suited our needs for the event and to align with the approach taken by other YAF chapters participating in the nationwide initiative.”

  Buy Photo

The “Am I Racist?” documentary — investigating diversity, equity and inclusion practices — also is screening next week at theaters in conjunction with YAF chapters at the universities of Michigan, Florida, Illinois, Texas and Alabama, among others.

Student organization revisions

Under the new UI student organization structure that delineates “campus life organizations” from “supported student organizations,” “affiliated student organizations” and “general student organizations” — each assigned different requirements and benefits — YAF qualifies as an affiliated student organization.

That means the group must be open to all enrolled students and have an external and non-university affiliation that imposes rules and regulations — contributing to the UI mission, vision and culture by “routinely presenting events for their members, the campus, or their related department’s or unit’s members and invited guests.”

Affiliated student groups get second-priority consideration for on-campus office and storage space and for reserving space in the Iowa Memorial Union and other campus venues — behind “sponsored student organizations” but ahead of “general student organizations.”

Per the new tiered structure, general student organizations are “primarily interest groups capable of functioning with minimal support.”

“The university registers but does not support or endorse the purposes of these general organizations and may not accept responsibility or liability for the activities undertaken by the student organization,” according to the updated policies.

Sponsored student organizations are considered “critical to the mission and culture of the university and work in partnership with a university department or unit.”

“These organizations are linked to the university because of their role representing the university or in presenting events of broad appeal that are considered an integral part of the institution and its activities,” according to UI policy.

Per the new guidance, student groups this fall must “transition to a model where student organization leadership and membership is composed of 100-percent enrolled University of Iowa students.”

“It was identified during an internal audit that some sport clubs were not in compliance with the former 80-percent student, 20-percent non-student membership policy for student organizations,” according to the guidance. “This is another reason sport clubs are transitioning to the 100-percent student membership requirement at the start of the fall semester.”

  Buy Photo

‘Given past litigation’

The changes come years after the conservative, faith-based UI student group Business Leaders in Christ sued the university in 2017 for kicking it off campus after telling a member he couldn’t serve in a leadership role because he was gay.

Employing a nationally known religious freedom firm to fight its legal battle, BLinC argued — among other things — the university was acting inconsistently. Other UI student groups — like those tied to the Muslim and Sikh faiths — were not barred for holding similar member and leader requirements, a judge found.

That precipitated a sweeping UI review of its student groups in 2018, through which the university determined 356 groups were out of compliance with its policies. Nearly 40 were automatically deregistered, prompting InterVarsity to join BLinC in suing the university.

Those lawsuits came more than a decade after the university faced a similar student organization controversy and held the opposite stance — that faith-based student organizations could enforce ideological mandates.

“A student religious group is entitled to require a statement of faith as a precondition for joining the group,” former UI Associate Dean of Students Thomas R. Baker wrote in 2004 to an attorney representing a prospective student group, the Christian Legal Society.

Three years ago, in 2021, a pair of judgments in the BLinC and InterVarsity cases went against the university — finding it discriminated against the organizations and ordering the university to pay a combined $1.93 million for attorney fees and damages.

In debuting its 2024 student organization updates, officials said, “Consistent policy for the variety of organizations the university supports was required.”

“Given past litigation, the university was only recently able to review, develop, and implement student organization policies to better support student leaders,” according to the guidance.

Hinting at the origins of the UI decision to deregister BLinC in the first place — following a student complaint — new UI policy states: “The University will not investigate complaints related to student organization leadership selection processes or final leadership selection by organizations that select their leaders on the basis of a commitment to a set of beliefs or affirmations.”

‘Fliers torn down’

YAF’s Jordan told The Gazette her organization’s new designation so far hasn’t negatively affected its operations.

“It appears that we have very similar permissions and opportunities to host and promote events, meetings, activism projects, tablings, etc. as previously,” she said.

The university, in fact, has upped its signage and awareness around student rights to promote events and ideas — even those that are controversial, like Walsh’s upcoming screening. But that hasn’t quelled opposition, Jordan said.

“We have had our fliers torn down repeatedly and have been putting them back up as quickly as possible,” she said. “We’ve also chalked promotions throughout campus, but many of these were washed away almost immediately.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com