University of Iowa reminds faculty of academic freedom, responsibilities post-election

IOWA CITY — In the hours and days following last week’s presidential election that went decisively Republican, returning Donald Trump to the White House, a handful of University of Iowa faculty and staff aired opinions both in and outside the classroom.

With some of those comments circulating across social media, University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson, Provost Kevin Kregel and Faculty Senate President Caroline Sheerin disseminated a letter to campus last week stressing that “the advancement and dissemination of knowledge is the core function of public higher education” — but that academic freedom comes with responsibilities as outlined in UI and Board of Regents policies.

“Applying equally to all faculty members, regardless of position or rank … these policies support your freedom to discuss matters relating to your instructional and scholarly activities, even if some may disagree or even disapprove of your statements,” administrators wrote in the letter, which was sent Friday and quoted a section of board policy.

“University teachers shall be entitled to academic freedom in the classroom in discussing the teachers’ course subject, but shall not introduce into the teaching controversial matters that have no relation to the subject.”

The same holds true for research and other creative endeavors across campus, according to the board policy.

“As the university vigorously supports your intellectual freedom, we ask that you continually dedicate yourselves to the responsibilities that come with that freedom,” according to the letter, which a spokesman said is sent to faculty annually and was provided to faculty both in September and on Friday “in response to questions regarding university policies.”

‘Unsettled by a presidential election’

One of the first UI-affiliated comments to gain broad attention after the Nov. 5 election came from a UI Health Care fellow who responded to a post on the social media platform X with, “Well I hope you lose your kid in a school shooting, already you have nothing to lose, it won’t matter to you anyway! Prepare for your kids funeral.”

State Rep. Carter Nordman, R-Adel, after seeing that comment, sent a letter to the university on legislative letterhead calling on Wilson to terminate Mayank Sharma from his post on the UI Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship Team.

“For him to be this unsettled by a presidential election and to, in response, direct anger toward and wish death upon another person, severely worries me about his ability to maintain the proper mental capacity to work with Iowa children, learn from Iowa doctors, or be paid by Iowa taxpayers,” Nordman wrote.

UIHC officials last week told The Gazette they were aware of the situation and were reviewing it “in accordance with our policies.” Although the university hasn’t responded to questions from The Gazette about Sharma’s status with the program, he no longer is named among a list of program fellows on the university website.

The Johnson County Republicans of Iowa last week also shared an image on social media they said came from a UI rhetoric class in which the instructor presented a slide that read: “We elected a rapist, convicted criminal, racist, + anti-environmentalist to presidential office. Now what?”

And a UI assistant professor in Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies who also directs graduate studies made waves online after commenting on X with postelection posts including “He bet on misogyny and racism to win. And he was right.”

She also shared and indicated agreement with a comment that read, “The only thing America hates more than a rapist is a woman.”

‘Instrument of partisan political action’

In its letter Friday, administrators directed faculty to the UI policy on “professional ethics and responsibility” — which spells out specific responsibilities to students, scholarship, fellow faculty and staff, the university and the community.

“As members of the community, faculty members have the rights and obligations of any citizen,” according to the UI policy. “These include the right to organize and join political or other associations, convene and conduct public meetings, and publicize their opinion on political and social issues.

“However, in exercising these rights, faculty members must make it clear that they do not speak for the university, but simply as individuals. Faculty members do not use the classroom to solicit support for personal views and opinions.”

Although board policy also states that when faculty speak or write as citizens “they shall be free from institutional censorship or discipline,” it also notes, “They shall remember that the public may judge their institution by their public utterance. Thus, they shall make every effort to indicate that they are not speaking for the institution.”

And as for the institution itself, board policy strictly prohibits its public universities from becoming “an instrument of partisan political action.”

“The expression of partisan political opinions and viewpoints shall be those of individuals, not of institutions, because the official adoption of any political position, whether favored by majority or minority, tends to substitute biased information that hinders the continuing search for truth.”

During Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021, the UI College of Dentistry distributed a mass email condemning his executive order barring certain types of diversity training — attracting the ire of Republican lawmakers who called university administrators to the Iowa Capitol to answer questions.

The incident and others like it compelled a barrage of proposed legislation around free speech on Iowa’s public universities, and it motivated the Board of Regents to launch a free speech committee charged with strengthening the campuses’ free speech efforts.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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