Regents replace proposed DEI, CRT policy with one aiming to avoid ‘indoctrination’

IOWA CITY — Instead of passing a new policy banning Iowa’s public universities from requiring students to take courses with “substantial” DEI or CRT content to satisfy any major, minor, or certificate, the Board of Regents — facing fierce backlash — has found an “alternative approach” aiming to avoid “indoctrination of one perspective.”

The board’s redirection comes in response to widespread criticism from faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the proposed policy’s infringement on academic freedom, First Amendment rights, and the board’s own free speech policy.

“As drafted, these requirements pose a clear violation of academic freedom,” UI professor and Department of History Chair Colin Gordon said in an email to the board June 8. “Faculty should be allowed, within their areas of respective expertise, to employ whatever concepts or theoretical frameworks are most useful in interpreting complex social phenomena, and in explaining them to their students.

“The prohibited concepts under the ‘DEI’ and ‘CRT’ definitions include a mix of legal, social, and psychological mechanisms of explanation, and would be impossible to navigate in almost any postsecondary course in the humanities or social sciences.”

Given that and many other critical emails and public commentary, the board next week will consider two new policy revisions aiming to address the intent of their first proposal, which echoed a bill that Republican lawmakers in the last session considered — but did not pass — to ban “certain requirements for students and faculty at regents institutions relating to diversity, equity, inclusion, and critical race theory.”

‘Avoids indoctrination’

The board’s revised proposal would amend its academic freedom policy to explicitly allow faculty to teach “controversial subjects when they are relevant to the course content.”

But, per the proposed amendment, “Instruction should be presented in a manner that fosters critical thinking and avoids indoctrination of one perspective.

“Faculty are expected to uphold academic integrity, encourage open and respectful inquiry, and present coursework in a way that reflects the range of scholarly views and ongoing debate in the field,” according to the proposed addition, charging the universities to “adopt policies and procedures that ensure all coursework meets this expectation.”

The board’s policy addition notes regents periodically can direct office staff to audit the university’s policies, procedures, and compliance.

In addition to that academic freedom policy addition, the board also is proposing a change to its “syllabi posting” policy to address key grade- and outcome-related concerns Republican lawmakers have raised.

“Courses should provide opportunities for students to openly examine and discuss the concepts, ideas, and materials addressed in the class,” according to the proposal. “Students’ grades must reflect their mastery of course content and skills, not their agreement or disagreement with particular viewpoints expressed during instruction or in their work.”

The board is scheduled to consider and vote on the proposed policy changes during a previously unplanned Aug. 12 virtual meeting where this is the only item on the agenda and no public comment is scheduled.

It will be the first and final reading of the policy changes, which will take effect immediately if passed.

‘Total capitulation’

The discussion around DEI and CRT on the public university campuses comes amid investigations into comments two UI employees recently made about the institution’s compliance with state DEI laws and Board of Regents DEI mandates.

Drea Tinoco — UI assistant director of Leadership and Student Organization Development, who was placed on leave last week — told someone recording an undercover video that her campus was circumventing laws prohibiting DEI-related spending, training, staffing and other activities.

“We are essentially finding ways to operate around it,” Tinoco said in the video that was provided to and then aired on Fox News.

“So there's money going to it,” she said later in the video about DEI spending. “Like, people are employed for these centers.”

In response, Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a statement condemning Tinoco’s remarks, several regents aired their concerns, UI President Barbara Wilson sent her own campus message promising “corrective action” if necessary, and Attorney General Brenna Bird launched an investigation.

Days later, a second video leaked showing another UI employee — Iowa Memorial Union Associate Director Cory Lockwood — being asked questions about the campus’ DEI compliance, and he too was placed on leave.

On Wednesday, the UI graduate student union — known as the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students, or COGS — issued a statement strongly condemning the university’s response to the videos and decision to place the employees on leave.

“(The actions) demonstrate a total capitulation to Gov. Reynolds and the Trump administration at the expense of the quality and integrity of the education offered by the University of Iowa,” according to the COGS statement. “This compliance with right-wing efforts to suppress civil rights and academic freedom, and deny basic principles of equal access to education, is a betrayal of our campus community and the values we hold as Iowa’s oldest and largest public university.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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