After an hour spent updating lawmakers on ways their campuses are serving students through improved graduation and retention rates, strengthening the economy through workforce development programs, and bettering the world through high-impact research, presidents of Iowa’s three public universities on Monday fielded questions — including about cuts to their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
To Republican Rep. Brooke Boden’s “deep concern” over the University of Iowa’s lack of compliance with DEI legislation and apparent renaming of offices and programs that continue to do work she and her colleagues find offensive and wasteful, UI President Barbara Wilson said her administration is doing its best.
“We feel as though we have complied with the law, and we're working really closely to reduce the number of personnel that we have,” Wilson said. “We’ve closed offices, we've gotten rid of every DEI committee in every department across every college. We have retained a central office, but we've eliminated about 11 positions in that central office, and it's focused primarily on civil rights, access and opportunity.”
Pressing Wilson on her compliance assertion, Boden said, “It sure doesn’t seem like it on the internet, which is where a lot of people reside.”
Citing President Donald Trump’s executive order “ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs,” Boden said UI compliance or lack thereof could have far-reaching implications.
“As you know, we have hundreds of millions of dollars of federal money coming down the pike, that if we're not willing to comply, that we're going to miss out on in the state of Iowa,” she said. “So this is a is a major concern for me to still be seeing so much of that out there.”
Acknowledging Iowa’s changing demographics and growing number of high school graduates who will be the first in their family to go to college, another lawmaker asked how Iowa’s universities are continuing to serve them, knowing that “a lot of those first-generation programs sat within our DEI offices.”
All three of the campuses said they’re continuing to do that student-success-centered work — which has always motivated them.
“Actually, many of the programs around student success aren't in a DEI office, and never were,” said Wilson, who then took a step back to address the larger language pariah that the words diversity, equity, and inclusion have become.
“I understand that these are politically charged words now, and most people don't understand equity or inclusion or they put different ways of explaining those terms,” Wilson said. “But for us, diversity still matters. And when I say the word diversity, I don't mean just race or gender or sexuality. I'm talking about first-gen students, students from rural communities, students who have different religious backgrounds, students who are in the ROTC, our military veteran students.
“All of those types of students reflect diversity of experience at the University of Iowa. So I can't imagine getting rid of the word diversity, you all. Now, if you tell me I need to, I will.”
www.thegazette.com
To Republican Rep. Brooke Boden’s “deep concern” over the University of Iowa’s lack of compliance with DEI legislation and apparent renaming of offices and programs that continue to do work she and her colleagues find offensive and wasteful, UI President Barbara Wilson said her administration is doing its best.
“We feel as though we have complied with the law, and we're working really closely to reduce the number of personnel that we have,” Wilson said. “We’ve closed offices, we've gotten rid of every DEI committee in every department across every college. We have retained a central office, but we've eliminated about 11 positions in that central office, and it's focused primarily on civil rights, access and opportunity.”
Pressing Wilson on her compliance assertion, Boden said, “It sure doesn’t seem like it on the internet, which is where a lot of people reside.”
Citing President Donald Trump’s executive order “ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs,” Boden said UI compliance or lack thereof could have far-reaching implications.
“As you know, we have hundreds of millions of dollars of federal money coming down the pike, that if we're not willing to comply, that we're going to miss out on in the state of Iowa,” she said. “So this is a is a major concern for me to still be seeing so much of that out there.”
Acknowledging Iowa’s changing demographics and growing number of high school graduates who will be the first in their family to go to college, another lawmaker asked how Iowa’s universities are continuing to serve them, knowing that “a lot of those first-generation programs sat within our DEI offices.”
All three of the campuses said they’re continuing to do that student-success-centered work — which has always motivated them.
“Actually, many of the programs around student success aren't in a DEI office, and never were,” said Wilson, who then took a step back to address the larger language pariah that the words diversity, equity, and inclusion have become.
“I understand that these are politically charged words now, and most people don't understand equity or inclusion or they put different ways of explaining those terms,” Wilson said. “But for us, diversity still matters. And when I say the word diversity, I don't mean just race or gender or sexuality. I'm talking about first-gen students, students from rural communities, students who have different religious backgrounds, students who are in the ROTC, our military veteran students.
“All of those types of students reflect diversity of experience at the University of Iowa. So I can't imagine getting rid of the word diversity, you all. Now, if you tell me I need to, I will.”
University of Iowa president: ‘I can't imagine getting rid of the word diversity’
After an hour updating lawmakers on ways their campuses are serving students, the presidents of Iowa’s three public universities fielded questions from lawmakers -- including about cuts to their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
www.thegazette.com
