Conservatives have managed to dominate a number of red state governments and, now that they are in power and have a mandate from their voters to reverse the tide of leftism, have started fighting back in the way many on the right wanted them to do long ago. Among the governments doing so is the government of Iowa, which just took dramatic action to limit Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in state universities.
As background, the hit comes from the state’s Board of Regents, which oversees and manages state-run higher education and focuses on issues like keeping higher education affordable and keeping it high-quality, among other things.
The Board of Regents was directed to investigate the matter by Gov. Reynolds, who on June 1 of 2023 established a Board of Regents Commission to review and reform the state university system’s DEI practices.
Gov. Reynolds announced that in a letter, saying, “Senate File 560, an act relating to and making appropriations to the education system, including the funding and operation of the department for the blind, the department of education, and the state board of regents; requiring the state board of regents to conduct a study and preparc a report related to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and effort.”
The Board of Regents then met over the summer to review the DEI issue and figure out what could be cut and what needs to be kept, eventually reaching a number of commendable recommendations that would severely curtail in-state DEI higher-education programs.
After the meeting, the Board of Regents approved ten recommendations for restructuring DEI in universities in a way that would reverse the concept’s domination of universities. Those recommendations were far-reaching, including everything from slashing programs not mandatory for accreditation to reviewing the massive diversity and multiculturalism programs.
The first recommendation was, “Restructure the central, university-wide DEl offices to eliminate any DEl functions that are not necessary for compliance or accreditation. Support services in these offices must be broadly available to all students and/or employees, subject to applicable state or federal eligibility requirements.”
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The second recommendation was, “Review all college, department, or unit-level DEl positions to determine whether DEI-specific job responsibilities are necessary for compliance, accreditation or student and employee support services. Any position responsibilities that are not necessary for these purposes shall be adjusted or eliminated. Position and/or working titles shall be reviewed to ensure they appropriately reflect position responsibilities.”
The third was, “Review the services provided by offices currently supporting diversity or multicultural affairs in other divisions of the university to ensure they are available to all students, subject to applicable state or federal eligibility requirements. Program promotional and informational materials and websites shall be updated to clarify that the mission of these offices is to support success broadly.”
Perhaps even more importantly for students and staff, the recommendations would ensure that employees, students, applicants, and campus visitors are not forced to submit DEI statements for admission and that they cannot “be evaluated based on participation in DEI initiatives” unless the position is one required for “DEI-related compliance or accreditation.”
Featured image credit: By Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America – Kim Reynolds, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=136583360