Articles Tagged: Iowa Board of Regents

Facing unsettling headwinds like sliding enrollment, surging costs, and shrinking demand for “general education” courses, Iowa State University’s second-largest college is reporting a current deficit of $11.4 million and expectations that shortfall will swell to $15 million in three years.

The University of Iowa will continue to make an annual allocation of $750,000 to Hancher Auditorium’s facilities and maintenance costs, even though it is in the process of weaning the venue off a $1.5 million contribution by 2024 of general education funding used for salaries and benefits.

Iowa’s public universities in recent years have drifted farther from a target of one supervisor per 15 employees to a narrower ratio of one supervisor per nine or 10 subordinates, according to a new Board of Regents report.

The Iowa House went two different directions Monday as it extended more local control to cities to deal with public nuisances, but took away local control from public and private schools, day care centers and colleges by prohibiting them from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations.

The pandemic depleted resources across Iowa’s public university residence hall systems in the last budget year – to the tune of millions – and even though the campuses are back to mostly in-person classes and traditional operations, fallout for the dorms and dining halls continues.

The university held Wilson’s official installation ceremony on its 175th anniversary — kicking off a series of celebrations in the coming days commemorating UI’s many milestones, including groundbreaking appointments of women to leadership roles.

Milt Dakovich, one of Iowa’s nine regents – and the longest serving active board member – has died, Board of Regents President Michael Richards announced Friday afternoon.

Not a formal investigation, but the attorney general will look at why the price of anhydrous ammonia fertilizer has increased 315 percent since January 2021, and other types of fertilizer have increased between 171 percent and 290 percent, according to the federal agriculture department.

A quarter of students across Iowa’s public universities who responded to a free-speech survey in the fall disagreed with the notion their respective campuses provide an “environment for free and open expression of ideas, opinions, and beliefs.”

The percent of students attending Iowa’s public universities who graduate in four years is rising, as is the percent who graduate in six years. At the same time, the collective rate of freshman who returned in fall 2020 for a second year dropped — a likely result of the pandemic, officials report.

According to an internal audit made public this week, holes throughout the University of Iowa public safety system – including deficiencies with its crime log, timely warnings, staffing, training, and record-keeping – have put the institution at risk of non-compliance with the federal Clery Act.

The original project cost of $17.3 million has increased 53 percent to $26.5 million, according to documents provided to the Board of Regents, which next week will consider approving the project design, description, and budget.

Nearly a year after the Board of Regents approved spending another $10 million to $15 million to replace dozens of damaged or at-risk windows in the University of Iowa’s $392.7 million Stead Family Children’s Hospital, work has yet to begin.

As the Board of Regents this week debuts new free speech training for students, faculty and staff at Iowa’s public universities, a Des Moines-area attorney is saying they have “a lot of work to do” after how University of Iowa faculty handled a student who expressed his views on “homosexual conduct.”

In line with a new state law and Board of Regents policy, Iowa’s public universities are rolling out a mandatory free speech training program Wednesday that all students, faculty and staff must complete by the end of the spring semester.