Gov. Reynolds condemns University of Iowa employee seen on Fox News claiming to defy DEI law

IOWA CITY — Gov. Kim Reynolds late Tuesday condemned a video she saw on Fox News in which a University of Iowa employee “blatantly admits to defying DEI restrictions I signed into law on May 9, 2024.”

And Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird on Wednesday said she’s opened an investigation.

“Maybe February, March, our communications person came in and was like, ‘Hey, we have to redo our websites for the regents to take off diversity, equity, inclusion — anything like that, any like buzzwords’,” the employee identified in the Fox News clip as UI Leadership and Student Organization Development Assistant Director Andrea Tinoco said in the video — which appears to have been taken without her knowledge.

“So they swept our websites,” she said in the video. “But we are essentially finding ways to operate around it. So that was our solution.”

In her comments Tuesday, Reynolds referenced a letter she sent the Board of Regents on Jan. 23, “reminding university representatives to comply, not only with state law, but an executive order signed by President Trump ending implementation of DEI policies at public institutions.”

“I will be referring this matter to Attorney General Brenna Bird for her review as it relates to Iowa’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Act,” Reynolds said Tuesday.

The governor in May signed into law sweeping prohibitions on DEI initiatives across all Iowa cities, counties, K-12 public schools, and community colleges — barring, specifically, the use of state funds for DEI offices and staffers.

Last year, lawmakers passed Senate File 2435 banning DEI-related spending across Iowa’s public universities — including for training for staffing, carving out exemptions for accreditation requirements and state and federal law compliance.

‘Immediate and comprehensive investigation’

In response to Reynolds’ referral, Bird on Wednesday said, “Regent universities must comply with our state laws including the Iowa Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) Act — Iowa Code Chapter 261J, Iowa Code Chapter 19, and also an Executive Order signed by President Trump on Jan. 22, 2025.

“We have received the governor’s complaint against the University of Iowa and have opened an investigation.”

UI President Barbara Wilson, in addressing the board of regents during a previously-planned meeting Wednesday, said her campus is taking the allegations seriously and has launched its own “immediate and comprehensive investigation.”

“In addition, we've reached out to the board office and to the Attorney General's Office to coordinate our efforts in the investigation of this matter,” Wilson said, adding her voice to the chorus of concerns.

“Faith in our institution depends on our unwavering commitment to upholding state and federal laws, as well as the policies set forth by this board,” Wilson said. “The expectations we have for our faculty and our staff are clear and uncompromising. We adhere to the highest standards of conduct, accountability, and transparency.”

Although Wilson said she can’t comment on personnel matters, she also said, “If, at any point, we find the policies or laws have been violated, we will take the necessary corrective actions without hesitation.”

“We are committed to taking any steps required to reinforce the trust that's placed in this university,” Wilson said.

A web link to “Drea Tinoco” with UI Leadership and Engagement no longer goes to her profile.

Reynolds’ condemnation — precipitating the AG and UI investigations — comes as the Trump administration continues what some in academia have described as an attack on higher education, with the White House demanding campuses like Columbia and Harvard University submit to a long list of demands in order to maintain federal funding.

The Department of Justice, in another example, last month accused University of Virginia President James Ryan of trying to “defy and evade federal antidiscrimination laws,” threatening to pull federal funding and precipitating Ryan’s resignation.

‘The most combative’

In the comments caught on a video apparently recorded July 2, Tinoco said the university is using phrases like “civic engagement” in place of DEI.

“It's like, ‘Oh, OK, we're not allowed to use this word? OK, we're just gonna do this’,” she said. “So that's why you're not going to see DEI listed on any University of Iowa website.”

But that doesn’t mean the work isn’t still happening, Tinoco told the person recording the video.

“So the content that I'm teaching is — I'm still going to say DEI,” she said. “I say it in my classes. I don’t care.”

Tinoco also characterized the University of Iowa as “probably the most combative” of the state’s three public universities when it comes to political pushback.

“We are always the university that's more like, ‘No, we're not gonna do that’,” she said. “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.”

In the video, Tinoco criticized the lack of diversity among the nine volunteer regents, who are appointed by Reynolds to serve six year terms.

“Someone told me to look them up one time, and I did, and it was just a bunch of white people,” she said, later talking directly about the spending that’s prohibited by law.

“They’re hiring for their team, they have student employees,” she said. “So there's money going to it. Like, people are employed for these centers.”

Leaders react

Before UI President Wilson announced her campus’ investigation into the video, Board of Regents President Sherry Bates called the UI employee’s comments “unacceptable.”

“Following the law is not optional, nor is working around the law,” Bates said. “Any attempt to skirt the law needs to be dealt with swiftly.”

Promising the board’s full support of the AG investigation of “this very problematic situation,” Bates said the board is continuing to work on a controversial proposal to create a new policy banning required courses involving “substantial” DEI or CRT content.

Regents originally planned just one first and final reading on the policy — until widespread criticism compelled the board to make it a two-reading policy, set for a vote this week. When the issue didn’t appear on this week’s agenda, Bates promised it’s still coming — reiterating that commitment Wednesday.

“One of the primary reasons we are not taking up the DEI/CRT policy is that the discussions on how to best implement the ideas that were brought forward are still ongoing,” she said. “We have heard from many people on both sides of the specific issue. Because of these discussions, it has become clear that we would be better served by something more comprehensive.”

Regent David Barker on Wednesday also repeated concerns he’s shared before about the seriousness with which the universities are taking the issue.

“That clip on Fox News yesterday, I think, demonstrates that we have a continuing DEI problem,” he said, pointing to a letter the board sent Bird last month stating changes enacted to date “bring all the universities into compliance with Iowa Code.”

“I objected to President Bates about this statement before the letter went out, saying that we should acknowledge that there will continue to be violations and pledge to address them when we discover them,” Barker said. “No change was made to the letter.”

Referencing a regent DEI review committee he chaired in 2023, Barker said he had hoped the group would continue to monitor compliance.

“But I was interrupted by President (Mike) Richards, who said that the committee would be disbanded and compliance would be largely left to the universities — with questions answered by board staff,” Barker said. “Having worked with university administrations on DEI for several months, I did not have confidence that all of them would faithfully execute our directives.”

After Richards resigned and Bates assumed the board presidency, Barker said he asked her “to allow me to be involved in the compliance process, but she declined.”

Echoing that demand for compliance follow-up, Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, on Wednesday issued a statement about the Fox News story — criticizing board and UI leadership in doing so.

“Taxpayers are seeing, firsthand, just how embedded the DEI bureaucracy has become at our institutions of higher education,” he said. “However, the persisting issues at University of Iowa are a direct result of the board's abdication of oversight to the universities themselves, and a lack of clear direction from University of Iowa leadership.

“The House Committee on Higher Education stands ready to act if additional steps need to be taken to rid these ideologically driven programs from our state's universities.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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