The Board of Regents is set to discuss Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at its meeting this week.
The regents are expected to meet Wednesday and Thursday. On Thursday, they will provide an update on DEI progress at Iowa’s three public universities.
According to previous reporting from the Daily, Regent and Board President Sherry Bates gave an update regarding the board’s effort to implement the DEI requirements at its Sept. 19 meeting. Bates said the law’s requirements do not take effect until next year, but the board has set a deadline for all three of Iowa’s public universities to comply with the law by the end of the year.
After “robust” discussion at their meeting in Nov. 2023, the board adopted 10 directives for the universities to comply with. Among the directives is to “eliminate any DEI functions that are not necessary for compliance or accreditation,” according to the board’s directives.
According to the National Education Association, 86 anti-DEI bills have been introduced nationwide since 2023, while 14 have been signed into law.
The university said it had eliminated its central Office of DEI in compliance with Board Directive 1, resulting in the elimination of five budgeted positions and the reallocation of $789,000 to other university priorities.
The university also said the Multicultural Student Success (MSS) Center will soon be eliminated, with its employees being transferred to other general student success areas.
“Through this compliance review, it was determined that the MSS job profile and description being used did not accurately describe the employees’ scope of work with students, which in most cases was to work broadly with all students regardless of individual identity characteristics,” according to board documents.
The Center for LGBTQIA+ Success will also be restructured. The Center will retain its name, but “the space will be designated as study and computer lab space available for all students.”
“We have students who are affected by this bill,” Jen Hibben, reverend of Collegiate Presbyterian Church, said in previous reporting from the Daily. “We wanted to make sure that this isn’t just one group of students. There are other organizations in the wider community that think DEI is essential… Social justice, in general, is an important part of our understanding of what our church should do.”
The board is also set to discuss Iowa State’s Economic Development and Technology Transfer Report, and the university’s strategic plan.
