Regents reject University of Iowa’s proposed ‘Social and Cultural Analysis' school

IOWA CITY — Despite a University of Iowa announcement in December of its intentions to seek approval this month of a new “School of Social and Cultural Analysis,” the plan has been shelved following legislative opposition and regent rejection.

“The Board of Regents Academic Affairs Committee elected not to consider the creation of a School of Social and Cultural Analysis or new Bachelor of Arts in Social and Cultural Analysis at its February 2025 meeting,” a UI College of Liberal Arts & Sciences director told faculty and staff in a Tuesday email obtained by The Gazette.

The new school and bachelor’s degree were part of a “multiyear administrative restructure of the college intended to better serve students and faculty” and would have closed or collapsed several departments and programs including the Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies Department, the American Studies Department, the African American Studies Department and Jewish Studies, Latin X Studies and Native American and Indigenous Studies programs.

As part of its proposal for a new school and major in Social and Cultural Analysis, the university planned to terminate its bachelor’s degrees in American Studies and Social Justice — moves the board is willing to consider at its meeting next week, according to the college director’s email.

But, according to the director email, “Since the board is not considering the new school, the department closures will not occur at this time.”

UI spokeswoman Jeneane Beck clarified that the new school and the department closures were tied together in a single proposal, “which the board has elected not to consider at this time.”

‘Peddling ideological agendas’

The UI’s proposed closures, its pitch for a new school and the board’s rejection to even consider it comes after strident legislative pushback against all diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across the state’s three public universities.

Lawmakers baked that opposition into law last session by passing a measure barring the campuses from spending on DEI offices, staffing, training or programming — while the Board of Regents also levied 10 directives, including one urging the campuses to advance intellectual and philosophical diversity among faculty and staff.

This session, Republican lawmakers in the Iowa House again have proposed a spate of bills targeting DEI, academic offerings and curricular requirements on the regent campuses.

One would require a course on “American history and civil government” to graduate; another would require American heritage among general education requirements; and a third would establish a new “School of Intellectual Freedom” at the UI.

All those bills have advanced through committee and have companion bills in the Iowa Senate — with regent lobbyists “undecided” on whether to support them.

After the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ announcement in December of its plans for a new School of Social and Cultural Analysis, Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, and Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, sent the regents a letter urging them to reject it.

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“Iowans expect our institutions of higher education to be focused on providing for the workforce needs of the state, not programs that are focused on peddling ideological agendas,” they wrote in the January letter.

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‘Limited faculty and overlapping curricula’

In the college’s pitch to close programs and departments, officials reported the American Studies and Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies departments had fewer than 60 students combined.

“The existing programs have limited faculty and overlapping curricula, causing challenges for faculty in sustaining teaching capacity,” according to the college. “The new curricula will not only streamline operations but offer clarity and flexibility in students’ educational pathways.”

The proposed new major in Social and Cultural Analysis aimed to provide students a “broad understanding of the complexities of the world around them and equip them for a variety of careers in fields like education, research, public policy, and community engagement.”

In its proposals to terminate degrees in social justice and American studies — which regents are planning to consider next week — UI officials said both programs reported their highest enrollment in 2021, with 55 in social justice and 13 in American Studies.

The American Studies major offered courses “that make sense of the contemporary world, both nationally and internationally, using a variety of approaches to the study of culture, including film, media studies, and the digital humanities; art, theater, and literature; and racial and ethnic studies, gender studies, and history.”

The social justice major integrated “theory and real-world field experiences” to provide an understanding of and create conditions for political and personal change. Courses examined the arts, history, literature, comparative religious studies, political science, philosophy, health education and gender, women’s and sexuality studies.

“Due to the departure and retirement in 2022 of two key faculty members who proposed and implemented the major, the BA in social justice has been hampered by staffing shortages,” according to UI’s degree termination request.

Should lawmakers pass the bill requiring the UI to create a new School of Intellectual Freedom, it would be run by a dean appointed after a national search by a nine-member academic council that will include no more than one UI employee.

The school would be required to offer instruction on “texts and major debates that form the intellectual foundation of free societies, especially that of the United States”; on “the principles, ideals, and institutions of the American constitutional order”; and on the “foundations of responsible leadership and informed citizenship.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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