UI president issues DEI message as second undercover video emerges

IOWA CITY — In a campuswide message Thursday in the throes of an unfolding investigation into the University of Iowa’s compliance with new DEI laws, UI President Barbara Wilson stressed her campus “has been working diligently to comply” — despite comments a UI employee made in an undercover video aired on Fox News.

“For more than a year, the University of Iowa has been working diligently to comply with directives from the Iowa Board of Regents as well as changes to state law that require us to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programming and initiatives,” Wilson said in the message. “Since January, the university has also taken steps to ensure compliance with new federal directives.”

Her comments come as Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird investigates a complaint filed this week by Gov. Kim Reynolds about an apparently undercover video taken July 2 showing UI Assistant Director Drea Tinoco rebuffing DEI regulations and explaining possible ways university staff was getting around them.

“It still exists — DEI and student organizations and all of that,” Tinoco said in the clip aired on Fox News. “We are still doing DEI work … there is money going to it, like people are employed for these centers.”

Tinoco — who started at the university as a residence hall coordinator in 2019 and moved up to assistant director of Leadership and Student Organization Development in 2022 — was put on leave Tuesday evening, the day Fox ran the story.

A different conservative news outlet called “Townhall” on Thursday aired a second undercover video showing what appears to be the same person asking DEI-related questions of UI’s Iowa Memorial Union senior associate director.

“Is DEI work still happening?” Associate Director Cory Lockwood said — appearing to repeat the question he was asked. “Someone’s not going to have that in their job description because of the State House.”

Lockwood — who has been with the university for 26 years since 1999 — was placed on paid administrative leave Thursday, officials said.

In Wilson’s message Thursday, she reiterated comments she made earlier in the week announcing the university had launched its own “immediate and comprehensive investigation.”

“Additionally, we have reached out to the Board of Regents office and to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office to coordinate our efforts,” Wilson said. “This investigation is being conducted in accordance with our established procedures to ensure fairness, accuracy, and impartiality. If at any point we find that policies or laws have been violated, we will take necessary corrective actions without hesitation.”

Stressing the campus’ "unwavering commitment to upholding state and federal laws as well as the policies set forth by our governing board,“ Wilson said her administration expects faculty and staff adhere to the ”highest standards of conduct, accountability, and transparency.“

She also pointed to the university’s responsibility as a public institution “to support all of our students, faculty, and staff regardless of their race, religion, sex, nationality, or political beliefs.

“To do so we must infuse a culture across our campus that rejects the use of litmus tests to determine which faculty, staff, and students we support. We help them all.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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