Lang
8/1/25
A second employee at the University of Iowa has been put on administrative leave after a hidden camera caught him making statements about Iowa’s new anti-DEI laws.
A video shared Friday by the conservative news organization Townhall depicts Iowa Memorial Union senior associate director Cory Lockwood saying to an unidentified cameraperson, “Is DEI work still happening? Someone’s not going to have that in their job description because of the State House.”
On Tuesday, Fox News aired a similar hidden camera video featuring Drea Tinoco, UI assistant director of Leadership and Student Organization Development. That video shows Tinoco explaining that she was trying to find a way to work around a new state law that bans Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts at the state’s regents institutions.
Both Lockwood and Tinoco have since been put on administrative leave.
A news release from Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird after the first incident said she is investigating the video at the request of Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds as a possible violation of the new law.
UI President Barbara Wilson issued a statement on Thursday indicating she and the university’s administration have been working “diligently” with the Iowa Board of Regents to enforce the state’s new anti-DEI laws. The letter made no mention of whether an investigation is underway into who is recording UI staff on campus without their permission. The person or people are not identified by Fox News or Townhall.
The Fox News video can be found here.
The Townhall video can be found here.