A month since several regents and lawmakers criticized Iowa’s public universities for keeping too close to the vest details on their progress to pare down diversity, equity, and inclusion functions, the University of Iowa has shared a campuswide update on its new “Division of Access, Opportunity, & Diversity.”
The university has both renamed and restructured its former Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to comply with directives from the Board of Regents and with legislation passed by lawmakers earlier this year.
“The newly named Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity will ensure the university’s compliance with state and federal law and diversity-related accreditation criteria,” according to the UI Office of Strategic Communication update.
“The division also will help students, faculty, and staff build cultural competency skills needed to understand and respect the values, attitudes, norms, and beliefs that differ across cultures” — a necessary function that UI President Barbara Wilson said persists, while also stressing at a recent Board of Regents meeting the need to "think about diversity in a broader way.“
“Many forms of diversity are invisible,” she told regents in April. “When you first meet someone, you may not know whether they're adopted, whether they're from a family that's suffering from mental illness, whether they're from a low-income family.
“Diversity is so much more complicated than what we've been fighting about at the national and, I would say, even the state level,” she said. “And our view of diversity is all this and more. And we're trying really hard to open up all of what we do to make sure that students feel welcome and that faculty and staff feel welcome as well.”
Within the recalibrated and rebranded UI Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity, some of the same programs will be administered, according to the update.
“But its internal units have been realigned to ensure efficiency and better support campus,” the communications office reported.
Specifically, the division is combining two units and reorganizing another. Tiffini Stevenson Earl, who was serving as UI director of equity investigations and ADA compliance, now will lead the campus’ new Office of Civil Rights Compliance.
Having earned a trio of UI degrees — a bachelor’s in political science, master’s in urban and regional planning, and a law degree — Earl has been investigating compliance, as well as designing and delivering educational programs for the university, since 2005.
“She will maintain our institution's compliance with the law while uniting the campus on prevention education and assistance programs,” Liz Tovar, executive officer and associate vice president of the recalibrated Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity, said in a statement.
The university also — per a Board of Regents DEI task force — will merge its previous Center for Inclusive Academic Excellence and Inclusive Education and Strategic Initiatives unit into a single operation the university has named its new Office of Access and Support.
Leading that office will be Cassandra Gordon-Fletcher, who joined the university a year ago in June 2023 as director of the Inclusive Education and Strategic Initiatives unit — following her time as an education services specialist with the U.S. Army.
The new office, under Gordon-Fletcher’s leadership, will continue administering federally funded programs like TRIO, “which helps students overcome economic, social, academic, and cultural barriers to higher education,” and Iowa Edge, which functions as a mentorship program for first-generation students, those from under-resourced high schools, and transfer students.
The office “also will develop and provide training programs that align federal compliance and accreditation criteria; promote respect, critical listening, and free expression; and are available to all students, faculty, and staff.”
“This new office will serve campus units in maintaining their accreditation standards as well as have an increased emphasis on providing individuals with the skills necessary to serve as culturally and globally competent leaders who can thrive an increasingly diverse society and workforce,” Tovar said in a statement.
With both Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa eliminating entirely its Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Office, respectively, Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, criticized UI for keeping its in any capacity.
“The University of Iowa may think they can slap a different name on these bureaucracies, but after the passage of Senate File 2435, they are wrong,” Collins said in April, referencing a law that went further than regent DEI directives to bake into law restrictions on spending, definitions, and penalties. “I have already been in contact with Attorney General (Brenna) Bird's office to ensure these offices are shuttered once and for all.”
Addressing that point, the university in its recent update elaborated on its need to maintain a Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity “as a central unit that coordinates services across campus.”
Mirroring UI’s “hub-and-spoke model” in human resources, Information Technology Services, and Finance and Operations, “This structure will help coordinate services across campus and limit duplication.”
“The hub-and-spoke model has been successful at the university for many years, and it makes sense for this office to centralize in the same way,” Tovar said. “We will provide a core structure and services to maintain consistency across campus. We will then work with each group to customize these services to best serve their students, faculty, and staff.”
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The university has both renamed and restructured its former Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to comply with directives from the Board of Regents and with legislation passed by lawmakers earlier this year.
“The newly named Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity will ensure the university’s compliance with state and federal law and diversity-related accreditation criteria,” according to the UI Office of Strategic Communication update.
“The division also will help students, faculty, and staff build cultural competency skills needed to understand and respect the values, attitudes, norms, and beliefs that differ across cultures” — a necessary function that UI President Barbara Wilson said persists, while also stressing at a recent Board of Regents meeting the need to "think about diversity in a broader way.“
“Many forms of diversity are invisible,” she told regents in April. “When you first meet someone, you may not know whether they're adopted, whether they're from a family that's suffering from mental illness, whether they're from a low-income family.
“Diversity is so much more complicated than what we've been fighting about at the national and, I would say, even the state level,” she said. “And our view of diversity is all this and more. And we're trying really hard to open up all of what we do to make sure that students feel welcome and that faculty and staff feel welcome as well.”
‘Some of the same programs will be administered’
Within the recalibrated and rebranded UI Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity, some of the same programs will be administered, according to the update.
“But its internal units have been realigned to ensure efficiency and better support campus,” the communications office reported.
Specifically, the division is combining two units and reorganizing another. Tiffini Stevenson Earl, who was serving as UI director of equity investigations and ADA compliance, now will lead the campus’ new Office of Civil Rights Compliance.
Having earned a trio of UI degrees — a bachelor’s in political science, master’s in urban and regional planning, and a law degree — Earl has been investigating compliance, as well as designing and delivering educational programs for the university, since 2005.
“She will maintain our institution's compliance with the law while uniting the campus on prevention education and assistance programs,” Liz Tovar, executive officer and associate vice president of the recalibrated Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity, said in a statement.
The university also — per a Board of Regents DEI task force — will merge its previous Center for Inclusive Academic Excellence and Inclusive Education and Strategic Initiatives unit into a single operation the university has named its new Office of Access and Support.
Leading that office will be Cassandra Gordon-Fletcher, who joined the university a year ago in June 2023 as director of the Inclusive Education and Strategic Initiatives unit — following her time as an education services specialist with the U.S. Army.
The new office, under Gordon-Fletcher’s leadership, will continue administering federally funded programs like TRIO, “which helps students overcome economic, social, academic, and cultural barriers to higher education,” and Iowa Edge, which functions as a mentorship program for first-generation students, those from under-resourced high schools, and transfer students.
The office “also will develop and provide training programs that align federal compliance and accreditation criteria; promote respect, critical listening, and free expression; and are available to all students, faculty, and staff.”
“This new office will serve campus units in maintaining their accreditation standards as well as have an increased emphasis on providing individuals with the skills necessary to serve as culturally and globally competent leaders who can thrive an increasingly diverse society and workforce,” Tovar said in a statement.
‘Hub and spoke model’ mirrors other university services
With both Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa eliminating entirely its Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Office, respectively, Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, criticized UI for keeping its in any capacity.
“The University of Iowa may think they can slap a different name on these bureaucracies, but after the passage of Senate File 2435, they are wrong,” Collins said in April, referencing a law that went further than regent DEI directives to bake into law restrictions on spending, definitions, and penalties. “I have already been in contact with Attorney General (Brenna) Bird's office to ensure these offices are shuttered once and for all.”
Addressing that point, the university in its recent update elaborated on its need to maintain a Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity “as a central unit that coordinates services across campus.”
Mirroring UI’s “hub-and-spoke model” in human resources, Information Technology Services, and Finance and Operations, “This structure will help coordinate services across campus and limit duplication.”
“The hub-and-spoke model has been successful at the university for many years, and it makes sense for this office to centralize in the same way,” Tovar said. “We will provide a core structure and services to maintain consistency across campus. We will then work with each group to customize these services to best serve their students, faculty, and staff.”
UI names leaders of restructured DEI division, updates progress on directives
A month since several regents and lawmakers criticized Iowa’s public universities for keeping too close to the vest details on their progress to pare down diversity, equity, and inclusion functions, the University of Iowa has shared a campuswide update on its new “Division of Access Opportunity...
www.thegazette.com
