What’s New
The Iowa Board of Regents is getting a jump-start on eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at its three public universities months before a state law banning the programs goes into effect.
The Board of Regents is conducting a “unit by unit” examination of DEI programming at Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa. The board said it will try to root out anything it perceives to be DEI work not required by accreditors, and compel the universities to eliminate positions associated with that work.
The board’s president, Sherry Bates, has set a hard deadline of December 31 for the three universities to be fully compliant.
“I want to reiterate that we will complete our work by December 31,” Bates said during the board’s meeting in September.
The law, Senate File 2435, doesn’t take effect until July 1, 2025.
The Details
The Board of Regents is conducting an analysis of the three universities to determine whether they are effectively complying with the law. The report is expected to be completed and presented at the next Board of Regents meeting on November 6 and 7.
From there, the board will continue to work with the universities to ensure compliance with the law.
“This will not be a static effort,” Bates told the Iowa Capital Dispatch. “We will continue to ensure we are following the law.”
To comply with the law, the three universities can no longer fund diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, or contract with third parties to perform DEI duties; require faculty and staff to sign diversity statements; mandate diversity training; or consider race, gender, or sexual identity in hiring.
The Backdrop
Iowa’s anti-DEI law is one of 86 introduced across 28 states since the beginning of 2023. In all, 14 laws have been passed to curb or outright eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in higher education. These practices, once believed by advocates to be critical to recruiting, retaining, and graduating minority, LGBT, and first-generation students, have come under attack by conservatives who believe the programs to be ineffective, a violation of federal antidiscrimination laws, and an attempt to sew division on campuses.
This has led to sweeping changes across several states. DEI offices at six public universities in Alabama closed. Four public colleges in Idaho stopped using diversity statements. In Indiana, students at nine public universities have been empowered to file complaints against faculty members, teaching assistants, or employees they feel are not fostering “a culture of free inquiry, free expression, and intellectual diversity.” And the Kansas State University system eliminated the use of diversity statements across its six campuses.
The red-hot political temperature around DEI has also caused colleges to move quickly and, in some cases, preemptively shut down DEI programs. For example, Louisiana State University scrubbed any reference to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” from all academic-department websites, according to reporting by the Louisiana Illuminator.
The Chronicle has documented changes to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs on 206 campuses across 32 states since 2023.
Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican of Iowa, signed Senate File 2435 into law in April. In addition to banning DEI on their campuses, the universities must file an annual audit to the state’s General Assembly to show they are in compliance with the law. The first round of those reports is due in December 2025. Noncompliance with the law can result in civil action taken by the state’s attorney general.
The quick pace with which the Iowa Board of Regents is moving to come into compliance with the new state law builds on previous efforts by Iowa higher-education officials to pare back DEI work at the state’s public universities.
In November 2023, months before Senate File 2435 was introduced, the Board of Regents asked the state’s public universities to conduct an audit of their DEI programming and eliminate positions that were not necessary to maintain accreditation, and directed the universities to no longer require diversity statements from employees or students.
The Stakes
The push to purge DEI from Iowa public universities has already caused those institutions to cut staff positions or leave them unfilled. Iowa State University eliminated five positions. The University of Northern Iowa shuttered its DEI office and eliminated its chief diversity officer position. Five DEI positions at the University of Iowa were not filled after the law passed.
The University of Iowa also changed the name of its Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity.
Iowa State University students have expressed concern that the new law might mean closing Freeman Residence Hall, a gender-inclusive dormitory. It’s unclear whether the new law will force nonbinary students to move from the dormitory once the law goes into effect in July 2025.
The Iowa Capital Dispatch reported that an Iowa State spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the university is working with the Board of Regents to “comply with state legislation related to diversity, equity, and inclusion” and that no decisions have been made on Freeman Hall, or other campus centers or programs.
Meanwhile, students at the university have formed an organization, ISU Students Against SF-2435, to oppose the new law. The group held a protest on October 24. Students marched across the campus holding signs, one of which read, “Diversity is our strength. Equity is our right. Inclusion is our duty.”
“I hope to actually have those resources still,” Aashika Janmanchi, a Taiwanese freshman at Iowa State told the Iowa Capital Dispatch, “because I literally just got here.”
