Coming together Friday for their final session of 2018, Iowa’s Board of Regents looked at campus safety alongside building requests, economic development and freedom of speech at the regent universities.

University security officials presented their annual campus safety reports released under the Clery Act, detailing crime statistics and their upcoming plans to protect student wellbeing.

Iowa State’s Chief of Police Michael Newton covered several concepts for new safety programs, including a new “ISUGuardian” app which would allow students walking outside at night to request a safety escort and reach emergency contacts.

Newton also talked about a program called CyWatch, which he said is similar to a neighborhood watch for the university. He said they planned to perform a pilot test in conjunction with the Department of Residence, covering certain residence halls, in the near future.

Another proposed program focused on outreach to Ames’ homeless residents, aiming to help the homeless population to access resources available to them.

Wendy Wintersteen, Iowa State’s president, mentioned the university had extended SafeRide’s hours to operate from 6 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. She also discussed the success of Iowa State’s “Green Dot” safety training program, and said more than 2,500 students, faculty and staff have completed the training.

Iowa State also received a three year, $306,000 grant to help with suicide prevention and substance abuse, Wintersteen said.

She lauded the success of the Iowa State University Foundation’s “Forever True, For Iowa State” campaign, which has raised more than $1.1 billion through donations. Wintersteen said the university was establishing a scholarship in honor of Celia Barquin Arozamena, the Iowa State student athlete killed earlier this year.

Iowa State’s economic development and patents were also discussed. According to the presentation, Iowa State led the state in patents issued in 2018, having registered 42. Based on their calculations, every $250 million invested in Iowa State’s technology research ends up leading to approximately 33 protected technologies, three to four of which are sold to generate revenue for the school.

As the session neared it’s end, University of Iowa law professor Todd Pettys presented on the topic of free speech at higher education institutions.

Pettys opened with statements regarding what he called a “false epidemic” of free speech restriction which he said was being used to fuel anger towards higher learning facilities. Pettys said he did not intend for his presentation to contribute to that narrative, but that he was aiming to open a dialogue around the topic.

Pointing to news stations and social media as locations where people frequently choose the narrative that they’re exposed to, Pettys said students now enter into higher education with political divisions similar to those seen in the Vietnam era.

Pettys said students are frequently the top opponents of free speech on campuses, as they often do not want to tolerate speech they view as offensive or harmful.

While discussing the idea of hate speech, Pettys said the First Amendment does not imply greater restrictions on hateful speech outside of court precedent applying to limited categories such as “fighting words.”