A Republican who serves on the panel that drafts the budgets for Iowa’s three state-supported universities questions whether the University of Iowa has not done enough to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion content.
Representative Brooke Boden of Indianola said she’s recently found information about D.E.I. on the university’s websites.
“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 for the state of Iowa,” Boden said, “so this is a concern to me to still be seeing so much of that out there.”
University of Iowa president Barbara Wilson said a search of the university’s website may show stories about “D.E.I. activities in the past,” but Wilson said the university is “working pretty vigorously” to comply with state and federal directives on D.E.I.
.”We’re not trying not to comply. Trust me. We’re working very hard on it,” 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 and access and opportunity programs.”
For example, that’s the office where low income University of Iowa students can get tutoring, financial counseling and mentoring through a federally-funded program. Wilson told lawmakers she understands “diversity, equity and inclusion” are politically charged words now and she said the university “doesn’t have special D.E.I. programs” or quotas, but Wilson said “diversity of experience…still matters” and that includes first generation students, veterans and students from rural Iowa.
“I can’t imagine getting rid of the word ‘diversity’ you all. Now if you tell me I need to, I will, but it doesn’t actually reflect who we are. We welcome students from all backgrounds, from all regions, from multiple viewpoints,” Wilson said, “…We’re trying to meet students where they are and ensure their success at the University of Iowa and define diversity in the broadest possible terms, so we haven’t really gotten rid of anything and we’re continuing to talk about this, being careful of our language, but the ultimate goal is to support students from all different backgrounds and tell them they all belong in Iowa and at the University of Iowa.”
Wilson made her comments during a meeting with members of a budget subcommittee in the Iowa House. The president of the Board of Regents told lawmakers the board began talking about eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives before any state or federal mandates and if there’s something on a university website that may be D.E.I. related, it’s to be taken down.