A Republican lawmaker says a recently announced University of Iowa plan shows the institution is already responding to the creation of a new committee in the Iowa House.
University officials are proposing a new School of Social and Cultural Analysis and the closure of the Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies Department and the Department of American Studies.
“This is the Board of Regents and the university trying to get ahead of the work of the committee, but nevertheless, a retreat is a retreat,” said Representative Taylor Collins, a Republican from Mediapolis who has led the legislature’s efforts to close diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the three state universities. He will be chairman of the new House Higher Education Committee when the legislature convenes in January.
The proposed changes are to be discussed at the Board of Regents meeting in February, with the plan to go into effect for the next academic year. The dean of the University of Iowa’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences told The Cedar Rapids Gazette the proposed changes are the result of “pragmatic and innovative thinking” from faculty by using resources efficiently and “serving students better.” The university will no longer offer a major in Social Justice. Representative Taylor, who has led efforts in the legislature to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, has criticized that major in the past.
“Our constituents should not be on the hook to fund academic programs that have ideological agendas,” Collins said today during a Radio Iowa interview. “…Everybody knows you’re not going to be able to go through an academic program like that and find a reliable job.”
Collins said there’s “more work to do” at all three state-supported universities.
“We’ll be looking at the academic programs. We’ll also be looking at costs. We’ll also be looking at the academic programs that are being offered and determining if they align with our state’s workforce needs,” Collins said. “Our Regents institutions spend over $5 billion if you exclude the UIHC and it’s going be a lot that we’re looking at and it’s simple going to take time to really sift through everything that needs to be changed at our Regents universities.”
The operating budget for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, which Collins referred to as UIHC, is estimated to be nearly $2.7 billion.