Iowa universities to debut free-speech training Wednesday

IOWA CITY — In line with a new state law and a Board of Regents policy, Iowa’s public universities are rolling out a mandatory free-speech training program Wednesday that all students, faculty and staff must complete by the end of this spring’s semester.

The training program takes 15 to 20 minutes, according to messages university leaders sent to their respective campuses Tuesday, saying to expect an email from the regents on Wednesday with the subject line “Free Speech Training.”

“This training is required by Iowa law, is being provided on all three university campuses, and is important to our efforts in educating the campus community about First Amendment rights to free expression,” UI President Barbara Wilson wrote in her message. “Thank you for your cooperation in completing this training on this important issue and for your ongoing promotion and support of free speech, which is central to our academic mission.”

Although the training is mandatory, and regents spokesman Josh Lehman said it’s important “so that everyone is better informed about free speech on our campuses,” the board has not put in place penalties for failing to complete it.

The new legislation, House File 744, which Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law last May, governs First Amendment training, prohibitions and requirements across Iowa’s school districts, public universities and community colleges.

“Each public institution of higher education shall provide training on free speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States to all students, faculty, and staff on an annual basis, which elected officials and staff shall be permitted to attend,” according to language in the new law, which regents added to their policy manual last year.

The training program is among several measures the regents have taken over the last year to respond to concerns about the universities’ handling of free speech on campus issues — starting with the establishment last February of a permanent “free speech committee.”

That committee produced 10 recommendations, which the board adopted, including compiling and reviewing existing campus survey data, determining whether to conduct an additional free speech-specific survey in the fall and providing free speech training annually.

Free-speech training

The board in July contracted with Six Red Marbles, a Massachusetts educational content services provider, to design and develop a free speech training course with the help of university and board office “subject matter experts.”

The course was to include an introduction, objectives, assignments, videos and approved written content, according to a statement of work for Six Red Marbles, which was to customize course homepages for the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.

The initial base cost for the work was $14,116 — although board spokesman Lehman said billing is ongoing and “some additional costs” might be incurred. Additionally, the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees is partnering on the project, and paying a quarter of the costs, as the Iowa law mandating training pertains to the state’s community colleges, too.

Other board policy amendments, also spelled out in the new law, come in response to specific incidents that concerned lawmakers over the last year or more — such as UI faith-based student groups asserting differential treatment; an ISU professor barring certain conservative ideology in her syllabus; and the UNI student government’s rejection of a new student organization against abortion rights.

The UI College of Dentistry also came under fire in the last legislative session when its leadership used mass emails criticized then-President Donald Trump’s ban on certain types of diversity training and threatened to reprimand a conservative student who took issue with the college, also over mass emails.

At the time, in November 2020, Regents President Michael Richards issued a statement condemning any actions “prevention another person or group’s opinion from being expressed or threatening those opinions with possible repercussions.”

“This is not who we are, and it is not right,” he said.

Free-speech survey

In the fall, the board approved administering a new free-speech survey to all its campuses’ students and employees — asking, for example, how comfortable they feel expressing their opinions at work, in an off-campus public forum or on social media.

The survey also asked broader questions, like how good students and faculty are at listening to people with different views. And it asked respondents how often they talk with people of a different race, sexual orientation, economic background, political or religious belief, disability status or gender.

More than 17,000 people responded to the survey, developed with board and university resources. Its findings will be presented during the board meeting later this month, Lehman said.

Last summer, in recapping existing free-speech data, the board noted none of the three universities have conducted surveys solely on free speech. But a 2019 survey at UNI asked faculty and staff how they felt treated based on their political ideology — and 63 percent said they either agreed or strongly agreed they were treated fairly.

At the UI, a recent survey asked faculty and staff whether the campus “provides an environment for the free and open expression of ideas, opinions, and beliefs.” The proportion who either somewhat or strongly agreed was 78 percent of staff; 69 percent of faculty; and 56 percent of underrepresented minorities.

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