Vanessa Miller

Before approving its state appropriations request in advance of the upcoming Legislative session, Iowa’s Board of Regents on Thursday tacked on another $1 million specifically for “extended mental health resources at our three regent universities.”

Dozens of University of Iowa graduate students and supporters shut down the Board of Regents meeting Wednesday afternoon with a raucous protest, during which they demanded a 25-percent “emergency” pay raise.

Two years after Iowa’s Board of Regents gave the University of Iowa permission to build a new 469,000-square-foot hospital on 60 acres of vacant land in North Liberty, regents on Wednesday donned hard hats to tour the highly-technical steel and concrete structure that has emerged from the visionary renderings they first OK’d in September 2021.

As part of Iowa State University’s goal to trim $15 million from its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences by 2025 — in response to waning enrollment, swelling expenses, and other higher education headwinds — the campus last year offered a retirement incentive that has persuaded 17 participants to leave.

Taking a cue from last year’s Legislature, Iowa’s public universities for the upcoming session have made significant “special purpose” funding requests that would focus on rural health care, rural development and teacher recruitment.

Bondholders demand the foundation ‘effectively empty the coffers’

The University of Iowa next week will ask the Board of Regents to give various forms of approval for up to $180 million worth of construction in the coming months and years — including a new $20 million gymnastics and spirit squad training center and an updated Hawkeye football team locker room.

Receiving no increase in general education funding from the Legislature in its last session, Iowa’s Board of Regents for the upcoming term has more than halved its ask from last year’s $32 million to $14.8 million.

The State of Iowa, on behalf of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, has agreed to pay a former pediatrics fellow more than a quarter million dollars to settle a lawsuit in which she accused UIHC of denying her disability accommodations, retaliating against her, and breaching its contract with her – “kneecapping Dr. Riley’s career aspirations.”

On U.S. News & World Report’s list of “2024 Best Colleges” – which involved “the most significant methodological change in the rankings’ history” following widespread criticism of its wealth- and prestige-favoring metrics – Iowa’s public universities experienced meaningful movement, both up and down the charts.

The University of Iowa is moving ahead with a $75 million modernization of its nearly century-old memorial union, including plans to transform its former Iowa House Hotel into a new student well-being center and create a new “public plaza” overlooking the Iowa River.

Mercy Iowa City has arranged tours of its health care facilities next week for potential bidders interested in competing for its assets against the University of Iowa – which last month made an initial “stalking horse” bid of $20 million to buy the 150-year-old community hospital. Also, Mercy pensioners have obtained an attorney to ensure continued payment.

The same day in July that Mercy Iowa City’s largest bondholder petitioned a Johnson County judge to appoint a receiver to take control of its operations – a move hospital officials said compelled them to file for bankruptcy days later – a pair of recently terminated Mercy executives also filed suit against their former employer, accusing the hospital of ghosting them and shorting them hundreds of thousands.

Under revisions to proposed procedures for the historic sale of Mercy Iowa City, the 150-year-old community hospital might not remain a health care facility, might not go for $20 million, won’t give the University of Iowa the “bid protections” it once offered, and won’t complete the sale this month.

Mercy Iowa City is facing