Iowa lawmakers call for board of regents policy barring DEI in all required courses

State lawmakers are once again calling upon the Iowa Board of Regents to tighten its restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion content in required courses after a University of Iowa official was secretly recorded discussing the topic.

Rep. Taylor Collins, chair of the Iowa House Committee on Higher Education, and Sen. Lynn Evans, chair of the Senate Committee on Education, have sent a letter to the Iowa Board of Regents requesting the governing body develop a policy barring any “DEI content and related ideological frameworks” from all required courses, whether through core curriculum or major-specific courses.

The letter comes after Accuracy in Media, a conservative media company with a history of recording university officials and posting the videos online, published an edited video appearing to include UI Senior Academic Advisor of Elementary Education Carter Burks.

“The public’s trust in Iowa’s universities depends on concrete action that demonstrates our institutions of higher education exist to educate, not to indoctrinate,” the letter stated. “As the governing body charged with oversight of the state’s public universities, the Board of Regents bears primary responsibility for ensuring that students encounter a genuine marketplace of ideas and remain free to complete their degrees without being required to take courses steeped in divisive ideology.”

In the video, posted by Accuracy in Media Oct. 27, said there is “a lot going on politically in the state” but the college’s “core values haven’t changed a lot,” adding that there is room for learning about “African American culture, native peoples” and other “wide-ranging history” topics.

“We obviously, as a program, we believe in educating all students about everything they need to know about all this stuff, right,” Burks said in the video. “Different professors take that differently.”

He described Iowa City as “very forward-thinking” in a “conservative state,” and he didn’t believe that students would come to the UI and get a “very right-wing” education. Burks asked in the video if he was being recorded, which the recorder denied, and he mentioned staff had been fired for mentioning diversity and inclusion in the past.

Burks is still employed by the UI and is not on leave, UI Assistant Vice President for External Relations Jeneane Beck said in an email. Iowa Capital Dispatch was unable to reach Burks for comment.

Iowa Board of Regents Senior Communications Director Josh Lehman said in an email the board is aware of the video and has received the letter, both of which the body is reviewing.

The UI has dealt with other employees being recorded and publicized for their comments previously, with one complaint dismissed and the other having led to disciplinary proceedings in February. Board President Robert Cramer at the time instructed the firm that handled the investigation to conduct an audit of all three state universities for their compliance with state and federal laws relating to DEI, which Lehman said in his email is still ongoing.

The Iowa Legislature and Gov. Kim Reynolds have enacted laws barring taxpayer money from funding “DEI initiatives that prioritize group identity over individual merit,” the letter stated, including prohibiting DEI offices and activities at universities, to “restore public confidence” in higher education, keep taxpayer dollars from “political activism” and protect students.

“The continued presence of DEI-aligned content in courses required to complete a degree undermines those goals,” the letter stated. “It also raises serious questions about whether the Board of Regents and the universities under its governance are fully committed to changing the culture of higher education in Iowa, or whether they intend to preserve the status quo.”

Evans and Collins said in the letter that it is the responsibility of the board of regents to ensure “students encounter a genuine marketplace of ideas and remain free to complete their degrees without being required to take courses steeped in divisive ideology,” and it will take more than “boilerplate affirmations of academic freedom” to make that happen.

Policy manual revisions approved by the board this and last year include a biannual review of general education courses for DEI and critical race theory content and the clarification that instructors can teach controversial topics relating to course content but it must avoid indoctrination and feature different views on the topic.

Changes to required courses themselves are necessary to stop students from having to “choose between completing a degree and avoiding mandatory exposure to divisive ideology,” the letter stated, and lawmakers are prepared to help the board in creating a new policy and outlining their steps to implement it.

“The integrity of Iowa’s higher education system and the confidence of the citizens who fund it depends on decisive leadership that protects every student’s freedom from mandatory ideological instruction,” the letter stated.