Vanessa Miller

Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday named one of the advisory council members leading a new University of Iowa Center for Intellectual Freedom to serve as a regent on the board that governs all three of Iowa’s public universities.

Amid pending litigation, displaced collections and a public fight to maintain the Iowa City arm of the State Historical Society, officials on Friday announced a new collaboration to maintain public access to the historical collections at the University of Iowa.

Although well below the numbers that cross the commencement stage every spring, more than 4,100 students at one of Iowa’s public universities have applied to graduate this winter — with ceremonies and celebrations planned throughout the weekend.

A Des Moines-based government and public affairs firm the Board of Regents recently hired to lobby on behalf of the University of Iowa this upcoming legislative session has resigned before its work could even start.

A decade after Iowa’s Board of Regents launched its “most comprehensive efficiency study” in a quarter century — which consultants at the time said could save up to $80 million a year — regents this month revived the charge to find new revenues and efficiencies across the universities they oversee.

Long before a flag-waving Herky the Hawk ran into Kinnick Stadium or Carver Hawkeye Arena – in fact, nearly a decade before Iowa became a state in 1846 and established the University of Iowa in 1847 – the territory of Iowa adopted the “Hawkeye” nickname.

Years after flagging an impending enrollment cliff — predicted as a result of changing demographics, including a financially-motivated drop in the birth rate during the 2008 Great Recession — U.S. colleges and universities have arrived at the precipice.

Leadership of the Legislature’s new Center for Intellectual Freedom based at the University of Iowa on Friday dismissed recent polling showing the vast majority of students across Iowa’s public universities feel comfortable sharing their views in class.

Iowa’s Board of Regents has hired a new Des Moines-based government and public affairs firm with ties to Republican heavy-hitters like Gov. Terry Branstad to lobby on behalf of the University of Iowa this upcoming session.

Eight months after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement abruptly terminated the status of four University of Iowa international students — and revoked visas for three of them without explanation — those students have settled the lawsuit they filed against the Department of Homeland Security.

A recent change in leadership atop Iowa’s Board of Regents should address the lack of oversight some have accused it of, according to regent Christine Hensley — who spoke at an inaugural event over the weekend debuting the Legislature’s new Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa.

“The governor is here, legislators are here, regents are here, but the president and the provost — always the provost — haven’t graced us with their presence tonight,” Christopher Rufo said. “Why is that? What's more important than the beginning of an academic research institution that was commissioned by the Legislature that has the highest aspiration of the university at its core — to unlock the freedom of thinking and to reorient the university toward the highest good?”

With construction underway on a sprawling CyTown district — aspiring to integrate Iowa State University’s athletics and entertainment venues into an innovative year-round destination — ISU has agreed with developers on building plans, a financing structure, and financial projections showing massive gains in the coming decades.

Gov. Kim Reynolds is among the nationally-known names slated to speak at this weekend’s inaugural event for the University of Iowa’s Legislature-imposed Center for Intellectual Freedom, according to a schedule provided to The Gazette.

Robert Cramer — a long-time executive with his family’s bridge-construction and land development company and past board member of The Family Leader — on Wednesday was elected president of Iowa’s Board of Regents.