Iowa’s three major public universities have made the decision to shut down their offices of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and to reduce or dissolve DEI-related positions. On Thursday, the presidents of Iowa State, the University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa told the state’s Board of Regents of the various changes they would be making to their respective DEI programs on campus.
Among the actions taken by the University of Iowa, five currently unfilled positions related to DEI are to be dissolved, while the current DEI office will be moved to a new division entitled the Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity.
Iowa State, meanwhile, has decided to close its Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office, which will eliminate five DEI-related positions with its closure. The University of Northern Iowa is taking even more substantial measures by shuttering its Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Office and eliminating its Chief Diversity Officer position.
Nonetheless, all three universities will be maintaining some DEI-related offices, in order to ensure federal and state accreditation requirements are met.
One area in which these universities seem to be interested in increasing diversity is the realm of diversity of opinion. University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson announced that the university would start a civic dialogue program in the fall in order to “get students to think about how do you come to the table? How do you listen to others who are different from you? How do you find common ground? How do you stay curious instead of judgmental?”
The University of Northern Iowa is undertaking a similar initiative with its new Center for Civics education, which will “promote the values of free speech, civic leadership, public service, and participatory citizenship” according to University of Northern Iowa President Mark Nook.
When it comes to the ongoing backlash against the imposition of DEI ideology on students, Iowa’s public universities are in good company with other schools that have chosen to downsize or do away with their DEI programs. However, these schools seem to represent a new front in the diversity conflict, as they are inaugurating replacement institutions to emphasize intellectual diversity, instead.
Iowa universities to shutter DEI programs, increase civics education https://t.co/c5ocoLQyv3
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