School’s out for summer for many of Iowa’s college and university students, but that doesn’t mean work has stopped across the sprawling campuses — where hard hats have replaced commencement caps and skid loaders have taken the place of scooters.
A month since several regents and lawmakers criticized Iowa’s public universities for keeping too close to the vest details on their progress to pare down diversity, equity, and inclusion functions, the University of Iowa has shared a campuswide update on its new “Division of Access Opportunity & Diversity.”
The number of Free Applications for Federal Student Aid filed across Iowa still is well below previous years – including last year, when the state’s FAFSA numbers on May 10 were 16 percent above where they were on that date this year.
The same day Iowa’s Board of Regents this month had its first consideration of across-the-board tuition increases for next fall, it also approved the public universities’ largest collective residence hall rate hikes in more than a decade — citing inflation, staffing struggles and years of meager rate bumps as the impetus.
Thousands pick up degrees this week at universities and colleges
A first peek at proposed tuition increases for Iowa’s public universities — made public Monday — indicates resident undergraduate students at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University could pay 3 percent more next fall, while University of Northern Iowa in-state undergrads could pay 2 percent more.
Back in mid-March — more than a month before the Iowa Legislature passed a bill imposing on Iowa’s public universities sweeping diversity, equity, and inclusion restrictions that go beyond directives from their governing Board of Regents — Republican lawmakers sought a DEI update from the campuses.
In response to 10 directives the Board of Regents handed down in the fall to curtail diversity, equity, and inclusion spending and programming across its public universities, presidents of all three campuses on Thursday shared significant changes underway – including the permanent closure of Iowa State University’s Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office.
With questions about tenure, its value, and its threats still top of mind for some Republican lawmakers, the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty on Iowa’s regent campuses is continuing a generational slide to its lowest in recent history.
Iowa’s Board of Regents is not ready to include in its automatic-admission scoring system a relatively new “Classic Learning Test” gaining traction nationally and especially in conservative-leaning states as an alternative to the traditional ACT and SAT tests.
A critical audit of the University of Northern Iowa’s Office of Compliance and Equity Management – responsible for making sure UNI offers equal education opportunities and complies with state and federal laws like Title IX and affirmative action – uncovered shortcomings that could “expose the university to unacceptable risks” and “result in serious consequences.”
Any funds that would otherwise have been directed to DEI offices at the end of fiscal 2025 would be directed to the Iowa Workforce Grant and Incentive Program under the bill.
Before COVID curbed enrollment in 2020 — hitting the University of Northern Iowa especially hard with a nearly 10 percent drop in total students and 20 percent drop in its graduate and professional count — the last time UNI reported a grad school cohort under 1,300 was 1993.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon house is listed at over $1.2M and presents a ‘redevelopment opportunity.’
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