Hunter
08/14/25
With Iowa’s three state-run universities set to begin classes later this month, the state Board of Regents has approved new policies aimed at avoiding what they call “indoctrination.”
The Gazette reports the Regents dropped its consideration of a new policy that would have prohibited Iowa’s public universities from making students take courses with “substantial” diversity, equity, and inclusion or critical race theory content to satisfy any major, minor, or certificate.
After hearing broad pushback against the policy from faculty, staff and students, the board updated its academic freedom and syllabi posting policies. It now states, “Faculty are expected to uphold academic integrity, encourage open and respectful inquiry, and present coursework in a way that reflects the range of scholarly views and ongoing debate in the field.”
A clause added this week states that student grades “must reflect their mastery of course content and skills, not their agreement or disagreement with particular viewpoints expressed during instruction or in their work.”
Regent Roger Cramer spoke about trying to regulate course content. He said, “I don’t want any of the DEI, CRT, woke left stuff being taught in any of our classes. But I understand the difficulty of trying, from the outside, to dictate what’s being taught. And I think we do believe in academic freedom and, of course, freedom of speech. So I think addressing how things are taught is the right path.”
Cramer added he doesn’t think DEI and CRT content should be taught because he doesn’t believe it helps either minority or nonminority students.
The Board plans on auditing university policies every two years to ensure compliance.