(Des Moines) In the last of several higher education subcommittees Wednesday, Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, shared a personal story of discrimination he experienced in order to explain why the tenets of diversity, equity and inclusion matter.
After writing a letter to the editor in response to a visit from President Donald Trump, Wilburn said he received death threats from a woman in Des Moines, saying he should be lynched and calling him the N-word. He asked the crowd of people at the meeting to think about his experience when they think about diversity, equity and inclusion and its importance.
“This notion that it doesn’t matter, that we are excluding others, that people in this limited definition of diversity … need to get over it or (are) given some advantage, I just encourage you to consider the experience I shared,” Wilburn said.
Members of the Iowa House Higher Education Committee heard from lobbyists and members of the public Wednesday on a number of bills relating to the courses and information within state universities, as well as the bodies that regulate them. Diversity, equity and inclusion was a much-discussed topic among visitors and lawmakers.
House Study Bill 53 would require the Iowa Board of Regents to craft a policy stating no state university can require students to enroll in diversity, equity and inclusion or critical race theory courses, and no one can require, encourage or otherwise incentivize faculty to participate in similar practices or offer corresponding content in their classes.
Exemptions can be granted in instances where these topics are included in a course that clearly identifies itself as being about gender, race or ethnic studies.
The legislation saw opposition from many of those who spoke during public comments, listing reasons of restricting academic freedom, limiting students’ ability to learn concepts and gain skills that would help them with cultural competency, and creating a culture of fear of what is allowed to be said on campus.
Wilburn emphasized that the bill does not bar any type of instruction, but rather its requirement or encouragement for students to take, and added that legislation using the “limited” definition of diversity, equity and inclusion causes a lot of frustration and anger.
These terms mean that all cultures, faiths and political backgrounds are embraced, he said.
The Iowa Board of Regents and others voiced their support for the bill, with State Relations Officer Jillian Carlson saying it reflects legislation passed last year and the current trends seen in the federal government.
Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison and Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, supported the bill and moved it forward to be considered in committee. Both expressed their apologies during the meeting for what Wilburn experienced, and Wheeler said there needs to be ways to unite people, but not through DEI.
“Racists exist and they suck,” Wheeler said. “The problem with all of this is there is zero proof that this is helping make people less racist. There’s actually a lot of people out there arguing it’s doing the opposite of that.”
Holt echoed Wheeler’s statement, adding that the American people seem to be sick of “tolerating what divides us,” which is what he said DEI programs are doing. Courses and activities involving DEI indoctrinate people to the idea of looking at everyone through the lens of race, he said, which he called “Marxist” and “destructive.”
“I proudly advance this legislation, and I would give a word of caution to our regents universities,” Holt said. “I’m really glad to hear you’re supporting it, because it’s going to be done one way or another — the easy way or the hard way.”
House Study Bill 57 would bar accrediting bodies from taking “adverse action” against community colleges and universities for complying with or refusing to violate state law, and allowing institutions to take civil action against accreditors who have violated this with the authorization of the attorney general.
People speaking during public comment were largely against the bill, with One Iowa Director of Policy and Advocacy Keenan Crow saying it is a bad solution to the problem of having state laws that violate accreditation standards that should be fixed another way. Iowa Board of Regents Chief Government Relations Officer Keith Saunders, however, said the board was in support of the legislation.
Wilburn opposed the bill as well. He said he was concerned that students graduating from accredited private universities could have an advantage over those from public universities in getting a job, and he was unsure how the state could hold a national, non-governmental body accountable for removing accreditation from a school that violates its policies.
Subcommittee chair Rep. John Wills, R-Spirit Lake, and Collins supported the bill and advanced it to the full House Higher Education Committee.
“I think it’s important to note that the Board of Regents is supporting this bill, and I think it’s important that the Legislature ultimately has the final say when it comes to these matters, not an unelected, unaccountable accreditor outside of the state of Iowa,” Collins said.
Making syllabus, financial information public
Two pieces of legislation passed out of subcommittee Wednesday related to making certain information at public universities available to the public, including syllabi and financial data.
House Study Bill 55 would require universities post to online the syllabi for each undergraduate credit course they offer, including the instructor’s name and information on course material, recommended readings and lecture descriptions, among other things.
Subcommittee member Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport, said a syllabus is not a legal document, nor is it something that sets courses in stone. It is an “agreement between the student and instructor, she said, that lays out an outline of the course and how they will be assessed.
Kurth agreed with a member of the public’s comments that people who aren’t involved in higher education could go looking for pieces of syllabi to take out of context and make “ a big deal about something they don’t really know a lot about,” she said.
Subcommittee chair Rep. Heather Hora, R-Washington, and member Collins supported the bill and passed it forward to be considered in committee. Collins called the legislation “common sense,” and said making syllabi available publicly is something that should already be in practice.
“As far as the cost and the burden of doing it, perhaps (universities) could allocate part of the over half a billion dollars we appropriate to the universities or the millions to be saved from DEI … to support these efforts,” Collins said.
House Study Bill 59 would require state universities to post financial information online, like budgets items, expenditures and vendor contracts that equate to $1,000 or more. Salary reports and administrative unit budgets must also be published, as well as “information on expenditures for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and similar commitments,” according to the bill.
Information restricted from being public by state or federal law would be redacted, the bill stated.
Carolann Jensen, Iowa Board of Regents state relations officer representing Iowa State University, said during the subcommittee meeting the Iowa Board of Regents has submitted suggestions for amendments to the bill, including raising the cited dollar amount from $1,000 to $100,000 and changing definitions listed in the legislation.
Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Birmingham, said the Legislature and the board of regents should be able to come to a nice middle ground between those two numbers, and he and Collins approved it to move ahead to the full House Higher Education committee. Kurth said she would oppose the bill until further information gathering and conversations can be had.
“I think there’s a lot of good direction on this bill (with) information that would help the public and give us just more transparency on institutions,” Shipley said.
