Lawmakers advance bills to freeze tuition, mandate American history at universities

DES MOINES — Lawmakers on Wednesday advanced a bill to require all undergraduates attending a public university in Iowa to take survey courses on American history and American government — despite pushback from Democratic lawmakers concerned with the cost, available faculty and added pressure on students with packed schedules.

“We've made a tremendous amount of progress in advancing civic education across our K-12 education system, and I think it's time to do that our institutions of higher education,” Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, said Wednesday about the bill he’s sponsoring. “Our university core curriculum is in desperate need of reform.”

Highlighting several courses that comply with general education requirements at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, Collins criticized classes titled, “Dress and Diversity in Society,” “The Economics of Discrimination” and “Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion.”

“I think we can make plenty of time and room for civic education,” he said. “And again, these are not electives. These are fitting core curriculum requirements. It's embarrassing honestly that we're having to deal with this. But it is the right thing to do.”

The bill passed with an amendment removing a requirement that the new UI-based Center for Intellectual Freedom offer at least one three-credit course in both American history and American government.

The center in January announced a change to its plans to offer four courses in the spring semester — two during the first half and another two during the second half. Instead, it’s offering just two that will run from the end of March into May.

Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville, reported low interest and thus enrollment as the reason for the course reduction during a discussion about low-enrollment majors and a Legislative mandate the Board of Regents dissolve such programming.

“Since we're looking at how market supports the majors — jobs and interest — are we going to use those metrics when we look at our Center of Intellectual Freedom, which got off to kind of a pretty bad start this semester,” Jacoby said, suggesting “no interest.”

“The same two students (signed up) for two different classes,” he said. “I know it's just starting, but are we going to use the same metrics? Because I'm real concerned about the investment that we've made in a whole department, and seeing that low of interest with 35,000 students. We only had two people that were interested in those classes.”

The core-curriculum bill that passed out of the House Higher Education committee on Wednesday — House Study Bill 543 — not only charges Iowa’s Board of Regents with mandating American history and government courses, but it compels the board to conduct a comprehensive review of all its general education requirements.

Rep. Heather Matson, D-Ankeny, raised concerns with the “practicality or impracticality” of the bill.

“I am still concerned about some of the things that were raised in subcommittee regarding how these extra requirements would fit into a student's schedule — to be able to take those additional classes and still graduate in four years, especially with students that have very, very strict curriculum classes that they need to take for their majors,” Matson said. “I'm concerned about requiring students to pay for more classes that they may not want to take. I also have concerns about how the universities will be able to accommodate doing all of these classes for every single student.”

Tuition freeze bill advances

The committee on Wednesday also advanced a bill that would hold tuition level for four years for undergraduate residents at Iowa’s public universities at the rate being charged their freshman year.

Earlier this week, regents presented to lawmakers a study in which they suggested charging an up-front premium to students wanting the frozen rate — allowing the universities to avoid steep revenue losses while also allowing families to budget and plan for their four years in college.

Rep. Collins in that discussion said he’s “not interested in a one-time fee of $1,800 to make things a wash when it comes to the revenue.”

“If there is an $1,800 fee, no one would take advantage of the program,” Collins said.

Collins proposed an amendment to the bill Wednesday that passed that would allow universities to upcharge students who transfer from one of the other public universities with a lower tuition rate.

If “the tuition amount that would have been charged to the student during that first academic year by the institution to which the student transfers is greater than the amount charged to the student by the institution from which the student transferred, the institution to which the student transfers may charge the student the greater tuition amount.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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