The Board of Regents President Dr. Michael Richards told reporters the Board is assessing data on COVID-19 but currently does not plan to implement a campus mask mandate for the public universities.  

“There has been a lot of discussions all through the state and we are sort of following along with the legal requirements,” Richards said. “We understand there has been federal court rulings, right now we keep just keep following along and we do not intend to put a mask mandate in at this current time to be. But we will keep following and adjust our thoughts based on the situation at a current time.”

Richards spoke with reporters after Regents met for their final session on Thursday at the Iowa State Alumni Center. During which, the Regents voted to approve the Iowa public universities general fund request for the fiscal year 2023 and heard from Climate Reality.

Iowa State President Wendy Wintersteen presented a campus update to the Board. In her presentation, she requested an additional $7 million from the state for the general fund of the fiscal year 2023. 

“We shouldn’t retreat from the educational revolution that has made our state and our country great,” Wintersteen said. “Investing in Iowa State today is truly an investment in the future, not just for Iowa State University but for the state of Iowa.”

The University of Iowa requested an additional $7 million for the general fund and the University of Northern Iowa requested an additional $4 million for the fiscal year 2023.

Competitive salaries, increased inflation, costs needed for technology, deferred maintenance and the cost of COVID-19 are all growing financial challenges Iowa State faces. 

Wintersteen said this fall semester Iowa State encourages everyone to get the COVID-19 vaccine to prevent transmission by making the vaccines available. Iowa State partnered with Hy-Vee to provide a mobile vaccination clinic for the Cy-Hawk game and at-home testing for students experiencing symptoms. 

The school is also monitoring state and county data and continues to encourage masks in all indoor places. Wintersteen highlighted Iowa State faculty requests for the Regents to implement a campus mask mandate. 

Iowa State just completed the nine-year historic Forever True fundraising campaign, raising $1.54 billion. Iowa State’s fall semester is larger and the most diverse class yet, with 6,741 new students. The current freshman class is the most diverse class ever with an average GPA of 3.7. Iowa State reported a retention rate of 88 percent.

Wintersteen touched on the innovation and research taking place at Iowa State to benefit Iowa’s agricultural economy. 

Wednesday’s meeting convened earlier than the anticipated adjournment. As a result, Climate Reality Campus Corps was unable to speak during the anticipated time for public comment. Prior to the meeting, individuals were to contact the Board in advance if interested in speaking during public comment.

President of Climate Reality, Cheyenne Minniss, a senior in mechanical engineering at Iowa State, submitted a request and received a notification informing her to arrive at Reiman Ballroom at the Alumni Center at approximately 4:30 p.m.

Members of Climate Reality arrived around 3:50 and entered the alumni center around 4:20 p.m. only to find the meeting had adjourned early than the anticipated time of 5:20 p.m. The Board emailed Minniss at 7:10 p.m. on Sept. 15, informing her agenda times are approximate and the meeting on Wednesday ran ahead of schedule.

Senior Communications Director, Josh Lehman said when the Board got word of what happened, they reached out to each individual who was unable to attend and invited them to speak Thursday.

“It certainly wasn’t to stifle their speech, we invited them here today because we wanted to hear them,” Lehman said after the meeting.

Minniss said she felt a notification of some kind that the meeting was running ahead of schedule was appropriate.

“I do not take lightly my members’ effort and time being blatantly disregarded,” Minniss said. “They spent days preparing to present their very important thoughts for you, missed classes that they pay thousands to attend and missed work. There is no excuse of failure in communication as you call it, but we will recognize it for what it was: an intentional tactic to avoid us and the movement.”

Climate Reality’s main objective is to bring Iowa State University to 100 percent clean energy by 2030. Thursday, the student organization addressed to the Regents and Iowa State administration the University spending $16 million on replacing the last two coal-burning boilers with gas burning. Minniss said this is a Band-Aid solution because natural gas is fracked, making the transition counterintuitive. According to Richards, this discretion is up to the University.

“We felt it was important that they (Climate Reality) be heard and we listen to that, we anticipate there will be continued improvements in the carbon release,” Richards said to reporters after Thursday’s meeting.  “Again we have already improved, and it is really at the university’s level to determine how that is implemented. I would hope to keep progressing with becoming more carbon neutral.”

Climate Reality members spoke to the negative effects of burning natural gas including adverse health outcomes and environmental impacts.

“The longer you wait the less opportunities we have to innovate,” Minniss said. “So tell me, is our saying and slogan at Iowa State innovate at Iowa State or is it sit and wait at Iowa state?”