Hunter
07/23/25
The Iowa Board of Regents say they’ve heard concerns from faculty, staff, students and the public about a proposed policy to ban diversity equity and inclusion and critical race theory requirements for majors, minors and certificates. As a result, they’re tabling the vote this month to review the feedback.
Board President Sherry Bates said the board will identify a future meeting to consider the issue.
The Gazette reports the proposed policy would prohibit Iowa’s public universities from requiring students take classes with substantial DEI or CRT content to satisfy the requirements of any major, minor, or certificate. The proposed policy defined DEI as instruction on concepts like implicit bias, transgender ideology, microaggressions, group marginalization, anti-racism, systemic oppression, social justice, gender theory, or racial privilege.
The newspaper also obtained comments from various sources commenting on the proposal. One wrote to the board, “This policy risks turning Iowa’s flagship universities into complete and total laughingstocks. As if the state wasn’t having a hard enough time attracting and retaining residents.”
A group of 10 UI emeritus professors called on the board to table the “hastily drafted” proposal it said was “unlikely to withstand legal challenge” and is “unnecessary” — given the “seriousness with which our colleagues approach their teaching responsibilities.”
But Republican State Rep Taylor Collins, who led the House’s new higher education committee last session and sponsored numerous bills to curb DEI spending, threatened legislative action if the Regents reject the proposal. He posted on X, “If this policy is not adopted, the House committee on higher education stands ready to act.”