Third undercover video takes aim at Iowa State University DEI compliance

With two University of Iowa employees on leave and under state and UI investigation after discussing in undercover videos campus efforts to skirt new DEI regulations, a third video has emerged — this time of an Iowa State University employee admitting to “finding loopholes in the laws.”

“I am careful about saying that,” Susan Harper, former director of Iowa State’s Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success, told an “investigator” for “Accuracy in Media,” according to the conservative news media watchdog.

In the video, apparently taken without Harper’s knowledge — spliced with menacing music and captions like “What comes isn’t regret. It’s strategy. Defiance. A battle plan.” — Harper said, “We're just gonna do what we're gonna do.”

“We are finding ways to be in compliance with the law and still do the work that needs to be done,” she said in the video, which continues the trend of undercover reporting aimed at exposing efforts to skirt new laws banning diversity, equity, and inclusion-related spending, staffing, training, and other programming on campus.

In a statement responding to the video, ISU spokeswoman Angie Hunt said Iowa State complies with all state and federal laws and noted the video has no date stamp.

“Based on the location and the nature of the conversation, it appears to have been filmed approximately a year ago, prior to the Board of Regents’ December 31 deadline for compliance,” Hunt said.

As for the ISU Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success that Harper was hired to lead just three years ago in 2022, Hunt said, all its programming was discontinued in response to board directives to eliminate DEI offices, spending, staffing, and training.

“The position of director, which was held by the employee when the video was filmed, was eliminated in December 2024,” she said. “We have taken actions, approved by the Iowa Board of Regents, to achieve compliance with recent laws and directives.

“Iowa State continues to monitor and take actions when necessary to ensure continued compliance.”

Iowa State did not immediately say whether Harper still is an ISU employee and in what capacity, if so.

‘It still exists’

Gov. Kim Reynolds on July 29 condemned the first Iowa-based undercover video — taken July 2 and aired on Fox News — showing UI Assistant Director Drea Tinoco discussing DEI regulations and ways university staff were skirting them.

“It still exists — DEI and student organizations and all of that,” Tinoco said in the clip. “We are still doing DEI work … there is money going to it, like people are employed for these centers.”

Tinoco — assistant director of Leadership and Student Organization Development since 2022 — was placed on leave that same day.

A different conservative news outlet days later aired a second undercover video showing what appears to be the same person asking DEI-related questions of UI’s Iowa Memorial Union Senior Associate Director Cory Lockwood.

“Is DEI work still happening?” he said — appearing to repeat the question he was asked. “Someone’s not going to have that in their job description because of the State House.”

Lockwood — who’s been with UI for 26 years since 1999 — was placed on leave the same day his video aired on “Townhall,“ officials said.

Gov. Reynolds filed a complaint with Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, who opened an investigation. UI President Barbara Wilson said her campus also is investigating.

“Additionally, we have reached out to the Board of Regents office and to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office to coordinate our efforts,” Wilson said. “This investigation is being conducted in accordance with our established procedures to ensure fairness, accuracy, and impartiality. If at any point we find that policies or laws have been violated, we will take necessary corrective actions without hesitation.”

‘Gone underground’

The new video aiming to expose Iowa State opens with text alleging, “At Iowa State University, DEI hasn’t ended. It’s just gone underground.”

Alluding to new laws and Board of Regents regulations prohibiting DEI work on campus — but excluding student organizations — Harper said her center often looks for “people to volunteer.”

“If I plan it, we can't do it, but if the student orgs plan it, we can do it,” she said.

In response, the woman filming the video asked, “So it sounds like y'all are able to still kind of do some of the diversity and inclusion work as long as students are doing it?”

“As long as students are heading it up,” Harper confirmed.

Confirming some positions will be opening up in the ISU Office of Multicultural Student Affairs — a name, she said, that “won’t last” — Harper said faculty advisers to student orgs can be especially helpful.

“They are out there, and it may not be your job description to be doing the work, but you’re doing the work by supporting students,” she said, adding, “We are finding loopholes in the laws.”

Although Iowa State had to shift some of its efforts, “The work goes on,” Harper said.

With institutions in other states and communities changing names of committees, groups, and units on campus without doing anything different — Harper said, “That made things so much worse there.”

Saying she’s not a toxic person, Harper said, “If they're gonna light the hoops on fire, let's take the game to them.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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