Divided regents insert themselves in classrooms, searches

IOWA CITY — Citing pressure from the Legislature, a divided Board of Regents on Tuesday approved two new policies inserting itself into aspects of campus operations it hasn’t before: what’s being taught in university classrooms and who university presidents are hiring. “I worry about the message this policy sends,” Nancy Dunkel, one of three regents who voted against the policies, said during Tuesday’s board meeting. “Iowa's public universities compete for talented students, faculty, researchers and investment. Their success depends, in part, on confidence that academic decisions are made through established educational processes. We should be very careful not to create the perception that course content is subject for political review.” Similarly, Dunkel aired concerns over a policy that adds a regent to every university search committee for vice presidents, provosts or other direct reports to the presidents — where those decisions used to be left to the campuses. “Governance and management are two separate issues,” she said. “And I believe that we're stepping over the line here.” Both new policies passed by a 5-3 vote — with regent Greta Rouse and student regent Lucy Gipple joining Dunkel in opposition. “I appreciate the intent behind increasing board engagement in senior hiring decisions,” Rouse said. “But I believe this change blurs an important governance boundary. Our strength as a board lies in setting policy and evaluating outcomes, while trusting presidents that we hire to build their leadership teams. “That separation of roles helps maintain accountability and effective decision-making.” The two policies that passed read as follows: The board will biennially review courses available to fulfill undergraduate general education requirements at each university. Additionally, the board will identify courses with “substantial diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) or critical race theory content.” The board president will appoint one regent to serve as a member of a search committee used to select any provost, vice president, or other direct report to the university president. The board through the regent search committee member will be kept fully informed of the progress of the search. Gen ed review In voting to approve the policies, board President Robert Cramer explained they both tie to discussions regents had with lawmakers during the recent legislative session. “They're contributing a third of our cost in paying for our general education,” Cramer said of legislators. “So they have a say.” While the board aims to balance giving the state a say with its commitment to students — who pay two-thirds of the campus’ general education budgets — Cramer said recent discussions with lawmakers revealed “a disconnect between us and the Legislature with what is going on in general education, what’s required, what classes are out there, what is the DEI content.” “So this was a way for us to find out,” he said of the review. “And my thought is we'll probably find out that there's not nearly as much (DEI) as what the Legislature thinks … And we think the vast majority of our faculty are presenting it in a fair and professional manner of describing what these things are, but not pushing an agenda one way or the other. “That's what I'm hoping to find.” Cramer said the board won’t cut classes or make “those kind of decisions because of this review.” He did, however, speak to a new law adding two new three-credit classes at all three of Iowa’s public universities — an American history and American government general education requirement. At the University of Iowa, the Legislature-created Center for Intellectual Freedom must offer the classes — which will need to educate 12,000 UI students a year, likely costing $890,000 annually. Across all three universities, the new mandate will require the campuses annually to educate 26,260 students via 209 sections necessitating 27 new faculty costing a total $2.1 million a year, according to the Legislative Services Agency. “Our board position was — we think civics and history are great — but we think this should be handled through board policy, and we really thought that there were enough legislators that agreed with us that that probably wasn't going to pass,” Cramer said. “However, it did during the late hours. And so we're going to make it work.” Stressing this mandate won’t add any credits required of students to graduate, Cramer said the universities are working to replace other requirements to fit these courses into existing degree plans. “It’s going to be disruptive,” he said. “It's going to be really hard on the universities to have to go through degree by degree and try to make room for these six credits.” But the campuses need to make it happen … and efficiently, Cramer said. “We don't want to start from scratch and hire all new faculty,” he said. “We want to work with the university and see if we can do this the best way possible.” ‘A different perspective’ Those types of new state laws, Cramer said, are behind many of the new regent policies — including the one adding a regent to university search committees. “This one came through the process of meeting with legislators, and there was a bill proposed to implement something even more harsh than this,” Cramer said. “So our thinking this was a way to help the presidents.” Given these types of search committees don’t vote but rather build consensus around a group of finalists and eventually a top choice, Cramer said adding a regent simply adds a different viewpoint. “We want to have someone there to have a voice for the board, and just say, ‘Hey, have you thought about this?' Are you getting the best candidates? Are you seeing the whole range of candidates?’” Cramer said. “It’s just a way to have a different perspective.”