Iowa Board of Regents begins review of university DEI programs for compliance with law
Iowa Board of Regents President Sherry Bates updated the board on efforts to review DEI programs at its Thursday meeting. (Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)The Iowa Board of Regents is working with board staff and state universities to analyze diversity, equity and inclusion programs and positions and ensure their compliance under a state law set to take effect next summer.
President Sherry Bates said during the board meeting Thursday that she, along with Regents Greta Rouse, David Barker and JC Risewick started this summer ensuring compliance with both DEI directives put in place by the board and Senate File 2435 at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa.
“These requirements do not take effect until July 1, 2025, however, we have set a deadline of Dec. 31 to complete our work, and I want to reiterate that we will complete our work by Dec. 31,” Bates said.
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Passed at the end of the legislative session, Senate File 2435 set the budget for public education in Iowa and codified rules relating to DEI offices and positions at public universities. Under the law, universities cannot create, maintain or fund DEI offices unless for purposes of compliance with accreditors or state or federal law.
Universities are expected to provide annual reports to the general assembly about their compliance with the law by Dec. 1 each year. The attorney general will handle any potential violations of the law.
The involved board members, alongside board staff and university leaders, reviewed state and federal laws and accreditation standards for the colleges, Bates said, and are now conducting a “unit-by-unit analysis” of DEI programs and positions to identify those required by law or accreditors and those that need another look with the possibility of making changes.
“We are aware there have been instances, events or programs that can be perceived as going too far,” Bates said. “As we learn of them, we review them in the light of the law and address them appropriately. That has been our practice in the past and will continue to be our practice in the future.”
Diversity, equity and inclusion is defined in the law as “any effort to manipulate or otherwise influence the composition of the faculty or student body with reference to race, sex, color, or ethnicity, apart from ensuring colorblind and sex-neutral admissions and hiring in accordance with state and federal antidiscrimination laws,” as well as efforts to promote special treatment of certain groups based on race, ethnicity or color.
It is also defined as efforts to promote policies, procedures or programming developed or implemented with reference to these demographics and sexuality and gender orientation, along with attempts to put out as an official stance of a university a “particular, widely contested opinion referencing unconscious or implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology, microaggressions, group marginalization, antiracism, systemic oppression, social justice, intersectionality, neo-pronouns, heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender theory, racial privilege, sexual privilege, or any related formulation of these concepts.”
Before Senate File 2435 was passed, Gov. Kim Reynolds mandated the board of regents to develop recommendations, later adopted as directives, relating to DEI offices, positions and activities on the university campuses. These included eliminating “unnecessary” DEI offices and positions, ensuring all services are open to all students and examining methods of encouraging diversity of thought and perspective.
In response to the directives, state universities reworked or eliminated their DEI offices and certain positions, as well as rename or otherwise change certain programs.
The board will receive a report on the most recent reviews of university programs and the universities’ status in coming into compliance with the law at its November meeting, Bates said. When asked for additional details on where the teams are at in their review, board spokesperson Josh Lehman said the process is still ongoing and more details will be available at the November meeting.
“This will not be a static effort,” Bates said. “We will continue to ensure we are following the law.”
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