Conservative law firm leading investigation into undercover DEI videos at UI, ISU

IOWA CITY — Eight weeks after the University of Iowa placed on paid administrative leave two employees seen in undercover videos discussing the campus’ compliance with state DEI laws — including one who said the university was “finding ways to operate around it” — the investigation continues.

Referencing a multiphase review involving the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and a conservative private law firm that has represented President Donald Trump and in 2023 successfully represented Students for Fair Admissions in ending affirmative action in college admissions, Board of Regents counsel Aimee Claeys last week gave an update.

“The Board of Regents has engaged an outside law firm called Consovoy (McCarthy) to assist in conducting not only a phase-one review of the videos to determine if there's any potential violations of law or institutional or board policies,” Claeys said, but also a larger phase-two review as a “complement and a supplement to that work, to determine and ensure broader compliance with (Iowa Code chapter) 261J, state, federal civil rights laws, Students for Fair Admissions, and anything related to this space.

“So that work is just commencing,” she said. “We are in the document and record gathering phase. But I meet every other week with Consovoy and Solicitor General (Eric) Wesson to make sure that we are on track, on task, on budget, and that the expectations of the Board of Regents, the universities, and the attorney generals are being met.”

Although the board didn’t share with The Gazette its budget for the investigation, a contract it signed with Arlington, Va.-based Consovoy on Sept. 3 — five weeks after the videos surfaced — show a commitment to pay $700,000 over three phases for an anticipated 1,120 billable hours, or $625 per hour.

Meanwhile, at least two UI employees remain on paid leave — including UI Leadership and Student Organization Development Assistant Director Andrea Tinoco, who was seen in an undercover video on Fox News on July 29 saying, “We are still doing DEI work … there is money going to it.” Placed on leave that same day, Tinoco — with a $62,526 annual salary — has made $9,619 over the eight weeks she’s been under investigation.

Iowa Memorial Union Senior Associate Director Cory Lockwood — who’s been with the university 26 years — also has been on paid leave since he too on July 31 appeared in an undercover video discussing his campus’ DEI compliance. Earning $117,239 annually, Lockwood is coming up on $18,036 made over his nearly eight weeks on leave.

Combined, those leave earnings total $27,655.

Iowa State University — which also had an employee admit in an undercover video to “finding loopholes in the laws” — hasn’t answered The Gazette’s questions about whether Susan Harper, former director of Iowa State’s Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success, is on leave.

And the Board of Regents hasn’t said whether it’s aware of any ISU employees on leave related to the undercover videos.

When asked for Harper’s employment status when the video dropped in August, ISU spokeswoman Angie Hunt said Harper was moved last year to a new role as cocurricular student development director in Multicultural Student Affairs after Iowa State discontinued programming and cut her job with the LGBTQIA+ Student Success Center.

The campus also hasn’t said whether it’s investigating the video or her comments. It did release a statement in August noting the video had no date stamp.

“Based on the location and the nature of the conversation, it appears to have been filmed approximately a year ago, prior to the Board of Regent’s December 31 deadline for compliance.”

‘Comprehensive investigation’

Upon seeing the first undercover video on Fox News on July 29, Gov. Kim Reynolds promptly condemned the comments on X and filed a formal complaint with Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird.

“The video contains statements by state employees which display a blatant disregard for the law and the will of the Legislature — that simply should not be tolerated,” according to Reynolds’ complaint. “Because the video contains comments by a university employee indicating the university, in effect, maintains a DEI office and/or has employee(s) who perform duties of a DEI office, there certainly appears to be, at a minimum, a potential violation of Iowa Code 261J.2.”

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UI President Barbara Wilson responded at that time by committing her campus to launch an “immediate and comprehensive investigation.”

“Additionally,” Wilson said in a statement, “we have reached out to the Board of Regents office and to the Iowa Attorney General’s office to coordinate our efforts.”

When regent David Barker during a board meeting last Thursday asked Wilson for an update on her campus’ investigation, Wilson directed him to board counsel Claeys — who pointed toward the early-stage work with the AG’s Office and Consovoy.

Neither the university nor the board have answered The Gazette’s questions about whether there are two investigations — one internal investigation on the UI campus and another involving the attorney general — or just the one at the AG’s Office.

The Attorney General’s Office also didn’t directly answer the question of how many investigations are ongoing.

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“We are overseeing the investigation into the governor’s formal complaint that DEI practices are continuing at Iowa’s regent universities,” Attorney General Office spokeswoman Jen Green said in an emailed statement. “We take this very seriously and will carry out a thorough investigation with the assistance of Consovoy McCarthy.”

Both Green and Attorney General Bird promised a “full public report” once the investigation wraps.

“I want to assure people that have asked me about this and those that are following the situation that we are going to look into it fully and fairly, fairly get to the bottom of see what is going on, and then issue a public report so people can see what is happening,” she said. “The educational system is supposed to be about education, not indoctrination. And they certainly have to follow the laws that the legislature has passed.”

‘To ensure compliance’

The law central to the undercover videos is Iowa Code 261J.2, which passed in 2024 and took effect July 1, 2025. Among other things, it bars Iowa’s public universities from establishing, maintaining or funding a diversity, equity, and inclusion office or any DEI employees. Its passage followed a series of board policies prohibiting DEI spending, along with a list of 10 DEI-related directives from the regents, including eliminating DEI offices and functions and ensuring no student, staff, or visitor has to submit a DEI statement or disclose their pronouns.

Although UI officials in April 2024 said they’d completed or nearly completed most board directives — including restructuring the central DEI office and renaming it the Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity — regent Barker, along with Republican lawmakers, pushed back and persuaded UI in March 2025 to close entirely its renamed office.

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The board and lawmakers also directed all three campuses at that time to scrub their websites of any DEI references.

Tinoco — in the undercover video — referenced the time it took UI to make those moves, characterizing her campus as “probably the most combative” of the state’s three public universities.

“We are always the university that's more like, ‘No, we're not gonna do that’,” she said in the video clip. “The fact that our website just got scrubbed this spring, I will say, personally, I am proud of the fight. Even if you aren't seeing it on something like an email chain or something like that. For me, the fact that it didn't happen until this last break to me, that said a lot.”

Looking into those UI employee comments is central to “phase I” of the investigation — according to the contract with Consovoy.

“This will include but is not limited to investigating recently disclosed videos, the employees in the videos, and their supervisors,” the agreement said.

Phase two — expected to take the most time and cost the most money — will investigate the regent universities’ policies and practices “to ensure compliance with Iowa law.” And the third phase will investigate “other policies and practices” and will involve the preparation of a report and recommendations for the regents “on resolving any outstanding issues with compliance.”

Based in Virginia, the law firm has scored several big wins with the conservative-leaning court of late — including its 2023 case ending affirmative action in college admissions and the court’s ruling that same year blocking former President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive $430 billion in student loan debt.

Consovoy McCarthy also represented President Trump in his efforts to block release of his tax returns.

“Thank you for your interest in the provision of legal services provided by our firm,” Consovoy wrote to the regents and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office on Sept. 3. “Consovoy McCarthy PLLC will be hired by the Iowa Board of Regents to conduct an internal investigation, in partnership with the Iowa Attorney General’s office, of the regent Institutions’ compliance with state and federal law regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion. The terms and conditions outlined in this letter and attachment will apply to this matter and to any future matters that we may open for you during the course of this representation.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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