Articles Tagged: Iowa Board of Regents

The Iowa State University police administrative adviser who has stepped in three times now as the campus’ interim equal opportunity director and Title IX coordinator has been named sole finalist to assume the job permanently.

According to a national public-university assessment on what increasingly is referred to in critical terms like “administrative bloat,” Iowa essentially is tied with Hawaii for spending the least on administrators, according to a new Board of Regents report.

Including $28 million it bid in a bankruptcy auction to buy Mercy Iowa City, $8.5 million it covered of the hospital’s “cash-based operating losses,” and $3.4 million it spent resolving Mercy’s unpaid contract obligations, the University of Iowa’s total cost to acquire the 150-year-old community hospital is expected to reach nearly $40 million.

Should the state adopt into law a bill that passed the Iowa House this week aiming to restructure the Board of Regents and its powers while also capping tuition costs and diversity programming, Iowa’s public universities could take a financial hit in the millions.

Bill that would ban credit card codes for Iowa gun shops advances, Iowa Board of Regents elects new president

For the first time in nearly seven years, Iowa’s Board of Regents has a new president in Sherry Bates -- a social worker who’s been on the board for nearly a decade.

As the University of Iowa reshapes its west campus to accommodate a massive new $1 billion inpatient tower, $249 million Health Sciences Academic Building, and other renovation and expansion projects across its health care and athletic operations — administrators are eyeing not one, but now two new parking ramps.

In an effort to save money and better allocate resources, the University of Iowa is planning to close several off-campus centers — including the Tippie College of Business Cedar Rapids Learning Center on Second Avenue SE.

The University of Iowa will keep housing students in its 56-year-old Mayflower Residence Hall — at least for one more year — despite having announced a year ago plans to sell the “last-chosen and first-transferred-from residence hall.”

A House education subcommittee Monday voted along party lines to advance a proposal that would bring meaningful change to the Board of Regents, the universities they oversee, and the students those institutions serve – including through tuition-hike caps and DEI-related “directives.”

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, in her annual Condition of the State address last month, said Iowa needs to increase reading outcomes for elementary students. Last year, state test scores reported 34 percent of third-graders are not proficient in reading and writing skills. Under a proposed bill, Iowa colleges and universities would be required to train teachers in the “science of reading.” But what is it?

Democrats’ proposal would freeze tuition, while Republicans would cap tuition increases for undergrads

Lawmakers have proposed a bill that would expand the nine-member Board of Regents to include two “non-voting” members of the Legislature. It also would cap tuition rates across the public universities at 3 percent for undergraduate students.

Responding to 10 diversity, equity, and inclusion-related recommendations Iowa’s Board of Regents issued in November, Iowa State University has disseminated a directive barring anyone on campus from making students, employees, applicants, or visitors “disclose their pronouns.”

Although long-serving Iowa State University Provost Jonathan Wickert just last week announced plans to relinquish his appointment later this summer, he actually submitted his resignation letter more than two months ago on Nov. 10.