Attack on university DEI will damage Iowa’s future

In November, we were critical of the Iowa Board of Regents’ effort to push the state’s three universities to dramatically curtail efforts to address Diversity, Equity and Inclusion on campuses.

“Curtailing DEI efforts could have significant negative consequences for the universities, harming student and faculty recruitment. The need for focusing on DEI isn’t going away in an increasingly diverse nation that is coming to terms with past discrimination,” we wrote in a Gazette editorial.

Republicans looked at the recommendations advanced by the regents and said, “Hold my beer.”

In the final two days of the 2024 legislative session, Republicans swiftly passed Senate File 2435 which, at its core, bans the existence of DEI offices at state universities. They can keep positions charged with making sure the universities are complying with federal or state accreditation standards, but that’s it.

They can’t hire anyone to perform the duties of a DEI office. Universities are prohibited from producing research or creative works focused on DEI. The bill would affect guest speakers invited to campus and mental and physical health care.

Universities would be barred from promoting any official position on “widely contested opinion regarding “Implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology, microaggressions, group marginalization, antiracism, systemic oppression, social justice, intersectionality, neo-pronouns, heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender, theory, racial privilege, sexual privilege or any related formulation of these concepts.”

It will surely have a chilling effect on faculty and curriculum, which is clearly intended.

There has been plenty of talk among Republicans about “ideological diversity,” namely making the campus more comfortable for conservative instructors and students, trumping efforts to promote other types of diversity. Conservatives don’t have free speech, according to lawmakers who blame DEI. There’s no reason, they contend, to help historically underrepresented groups find their place in an institute of higher learning.

Well, except for the fact we’re supposed to be educating students to navigate an increasingly diverse world. Iowa is also struggling to solve its chronic workforce shortage, and being a welcoming destination for workers of all backgrounds is a key part of the solution.

But, instead, the Legislature is sending a clear message we don’t care about diversity, history or helping people realize the American dream who are not typical, white Iowans.

But Iowa State and the University of Northern Iowa have closed their DEI offices, eliminating jobs. The University of Iowa has eliminated positions but renamed its offices instead of closing it. That will sure draw further ire from lawmakers, who seem to care little about throwing a wrench into universities that are economic engines for the state.

These are dark days as Iowa recoils from its proud history of civil rights protection and retreats into a cocoon of conservative white comfort. Iowans must choose the modern world over some fabricated view of the past when they head to the voting booth in November.

Editorial board member Zack Kucharski is an adjunct instructor at the University of Iowa and took no part in this editorial.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com