Regents to change proposed DEI policy following criticism

IOWA CITY — Hearing by email and public comment criticism of a proposal to bar “diversity, equity, and inclusion” and “critical race theory” requirements for university majors, minors, or certificates — Iowa’s Board of Regents on Wednesday committed to reviewing and changing the proposed new policy.

“We've received dozens of emails about this policy,” regent David Barker said. “Some of the emails were helpful. To be frank, I found some emails to be on the pompous and arrogant side. But even some of those emails were helpful. Others, I think, showed a misunderstanding of the policy. But the helpful emails convinced me that we can improve on this first draft of the policy.”

The policy — mirroring a legislative proposal that did not pass — would prohibit Iowa’s public universities from making students take courses with “substantial content that conveys DEI or CRT” to satisfy any major, minor or certificate.

Board of Regents Executive Director Mark Braun in presenting the policy Wednesday acknowledged a need for more clarity in implementation.

“The policy uses the word ‘substantial,’ which might seem a little vague,” he said. “But part of the implementation process will be working with the universities to define that and develop a guideline for how to apply (for an exception).”

Imposing a new policy requiring faculty and administrators to apply for an exception, Braun said, will ”highlight just how many academic programs do not require courses that meet this ‘substantial’ standard.”

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“Our goal is not to shut down a point of view,” regent Barker said about the policy, which is coming back to the board for a second and final reading next month. “Our goal is to prevent instructors from presenting contested, controversial ideas as settled fact. We shouldn't be doing that, particularly in required courses.”

While DEI and CRT are “examples of that occurring,” Barker said, “There are many examples of this from the political right and from the political left.”

“And if you think that that never happens in Iowa — teaching controversial ideas as settled fact — you should talk with more parents and students,” he said. “I regularly hear these complaints.”

Citing a loss in confidence in higher education, Barker said, “the belief that colleges indoctrinate students with privileged ideologies is one reason for that loss of confidence.”

“We need to do something about that, and some version of this policy will be an important first step.”

Barker said he already has suggested changes to the proposal and hopes “we can work with board staff to improve on this policy.”

Board spokesman Josh Lehman — when asked for details of Barker’s proposed changes — told The Gazette, “The policy that the board will consider at its next meeting, including any changes, will be made public when the docket is released approximately one week prior to the meeting.”

‘Indoctrinating students’

Other regents — speaking before the public comment portion of the board meeting Wednesday — seconded Barker’s comments, including regent Robert Cramer, who said most faculty “are not doing this” and “can’t imagine that it’s really happening” and “would agree that the teachers shouldn’t be indoctrinating students.”

“So this is trying to address that more extreme case where students will be put into an uncomfortable — not just uncomfortable, but a pressure — situation that they shouldn't be,” Cramer said.

Regent Christine Hensley highlighted the change from this week’s reading being the “first and final” reading to a “first of two” readings.

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“And maybe we're not there on the second reading,” Hensley said of the policy proposal that isn’t supposed to take effect until June 2026. “It wouldn't be the end of the world … I mean, this isn't going into effect until next year, so we’ve got time to get this dealt with and dealt with correctly.”

But faculty, students, and community members who addressed the board on the topic Wednesday asked them to scrap it altogether.

“This proposed effort to micromanage higher education will only worsen our state's chances to thrive economically and socially,” community member Emily Campion said. “That individuals have different experiences based on race, gender, and other demographic characteristics is supported by many decades of rigorous scholarship. Respectively, these differences are not contested ideas.”

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Referencing both Barker and Craemer’s comments, Campion said the board discussion “brought a crucial piece of evidence to light.”

“And thank you to the individuals who emailed our board to state your concerns — even if they sounded a little pompous,” she said. “An important clarification was made in that the issue isn't universal among all educators at our state institutions, but rather an issue with only a few.

“Why then do you want to intervene at the institutional level? It seems to me that this is a human resources issue.”

‘God help Iowa’

University of Northern Iowa United Faculty union President Christopher Martin criticized the genesis of the legislative proposal last session that compelled the board to take policy action.

“The proposal is based on the generic recommendations of two New York City political think tanks,” Martin said of presentations to lawmakers from the conservative Manhattan Institute and National Association of Scholars. “It's not in response to any major problem voiced by more than 70,000 students at Iowa regents universities.”

Referencing the proposed policy’s definitions of DEI and CRT as instruction conveying things like implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology, microaggressions, anti-racism, social justice, and gender theory, Martin called the concepts “ill defined.”

“For example, I would not be able to convey substantial content on the topic of anti-racism, yet, presumably I could talk endlessly about racism,” he said. “That's an odd choice. But that's the weird problem societies get themselves into when they start making lists of things they don't want people to say.”

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Speakers on Wednesday said Iowa’s public universities — should regents go through with the policy — will lose enrollment and funding and respect. Several suggested the board will face a lawsuit.

“This proposal goes to the very core of the university and critical inquiry,” Martin said. “There is no middle position, no position of slight appeasement. Either you stand for free expression at Iowa's universities or you don't.

“And God help Iowa, the public universities, and all the citizens of this state if you don't.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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